The Fire Still Burns
by W1rath56
Summary: When Miyu-Verse Shirou woke up he expected a lot of things. Like to be dead for one, captured by his enemies or... anything really. What he didn't expect was to awaken to a world where the gods still roamed around. Can he make it back to Miyu or perhaps she's already here.
1. Chapter 1 Arrival

"If I continue to let you live, you may turn out to be a hindrance to our plans." A voice spoke down to the exhausted Shirou. He had just about hit his limit when he traced Ig-Alima, a sword he was never meant to obtain.

"From your irksome ability, your strange use of magecraft, and your abhorrent self-destructive conviction." A golden ripple floated upon her palm. A weapon formed out, hilt-first. Grasping it she pulled it out and held it high into the air for the 'world' to see. "Will all be torn to shreds."

'Structural Analysis!'

世界驅逐艦

Shirou covered his eyes with his hands as black spots started to cover up his vision. Whatever the sword was could not be analyzed. This was the first time he'd had trouble analyzing something.

He didn't know whether he should be scared of it or not.

With no information to go off, he was at a conundrum. What sword would work against it. Excalibur? Gram? Was that even enough?

The spiralling red energy reached the top of his 'world' kicking up massive storms of snow. Shirou could feel his world collapsing, signalling the end of his fight.

For the first time in his life, Shirou had no answers.

"There's only one thing I can do left." Shirou started. "I must fight you, with every last weapon that I have!"

Weapons from swords, axes, spears, shields, halberds, bows rose from the ground like a geyser floating dangerously next to him.

His opponent hardly looked unsettled and merely chanted her 'swords' name.

"Return to the beginning- ENUMA ELISH!"

The swirling storm of death made a beeline straight towards him with the intentions of killing him. It was a power like no other that no Heroic Spirit could match.

Shirou at the same time, released his army of swords to halt it's progress forcing the two attacks at a standstill. Still, even with all of his weapons he was slowly getting overpowered. His mana was also running at an all-time low.

"HAAAAAAH!" he cried out putting every last bit of magic into his blades.

"IT'S FUTILE TO TRY!." she yelled out harshly "EVEN IF YOU PILED EVERY COPY TOGETHER ITS WORTHLESS AGAINST THE STRONGEST!"

Shards of his broken blades met his cheek causing blood to start to pool down. He could hardly see let alone consciously keep the fight going.

Hope was starting to seem lost. The weapons that were not his own but simply copies could do nothing to save their master for they were going up against the progenitor of all weapons, Ea (The Sword of Rupture)

He didn't care though, he felt nothing when his swords broke for he was already broken himself.

Soon enough, the moon in the world darkened and Shirou knew unconsciously that she was gone.

CRACK

The ground split. The world collapsed and he was swallowed into endless darkness. Despite this he still managed to say his final words. "Yeah." Shirou gave a weak smile. "It's as you say...dad, there are times when just one thing can outweigh everything else in the world."

He then thought of Miyu and their promise. "Ah this is bad, our promise to see the ocean together. I forgot, heh."

Then Shirou Emiya ceased to exist in this world.

* * *

Shirou Emiya opened his amber-colored eyes.

He then immediately shut them again as the hot sun shone on him without discrimination. He held out his hand to block the sun but when he tried raising his arm he only felt fatigue. Like the type you had when working yourself to the bone and even your body refused to help you.

"Wait, I'm not dead. How?" He remembered very clearly that he had perished. His Reality Marble collapsed and his swords had broken. There was no more hope. The only thing that could give him rest was that Miyu was gone but safe, somewhere in another world- another timeline- where she wouldn't have to worry about the burdens of not having friends or family. Where she could go outside.

The thought of that brought a smile to his face. "I failed Kiritsugu." he ran his hands through his messy hair. "But I won."

Trying to stand back up turned out to be quite the problem. He kept stumbling everytime he tried bending his knees. He could see his dark pants have clear signs of blood. Shards must have gotten in there too.

Then, out of nowhere, a bright light from the heavens shone down on Shirou's position forcing him to cover his eyes. When the light dissipated he expected to see an enemy- Angelica- ready to finish him off. Except he saw nobody. Nobody was in the clearing.

But Miraculously, his most grave wounds were healed. Sure, blood still soaked through his shirt and pants and he could still feel fatigue from his fights but he was able to move now. He only had to get a taxi now and rest back at home.

Problem was, he had no idea where he was. He tried looking for key landmarks that could hint at where he was at but found nothing.

'I must be in some type of plains or something. There doesn't seem to be any signs of human tampering.'

Standing up he started walking. Where? He had no idea. But straight led you to somewhere eventually right? That at least was his optimistic encouragement.

After walking aimlessly for thirty minutes he could feel his legs truly give out. He couldn't blame them either. Walking around was exhausting especially when you were already tired. He silently lamented not having a smart-phone with him. He would at least be able to use the map installed on every phone to see where he was.

As he leaned against a tree his mind went back to a few years ago.

"Listen Shirou," his old man lectured, taking a puff from his cigarette he always had in his mouth. "Whenever you're lost, simply follow the stars. You're a smart kid I know you will always make it back home"

"Dad, you're acting like I'm going to be stranded out in the middle of a forest anytime soon. I'm going to be with you and Miyu forever!"

Kiritusgu sighed "Despite what you may think, I won't always be there for you whenever you're in danger. As a man, you need to learn how to keep a level head no matter what situation your in."

"Okay dad." Little Shirou said not really paying much attention to it at the time. After all, his dad is strong! He wouldn't die.

Kiritusgu just smiled tiredly at his adopted son's innocence.

The flashback gave him encouragement. It made him push on. Despite not sharing the same views as his father anymore- actively going against everything his father stood for he respected Kiritsugu. He always would no matter what.

He closed his eyes and leveled his breathing.

Sometimes you need to look stronger than you are. Not just for your sake.

As he sluggishly walked through the forest, he noticed the first sign of life in the shape of three claw marks that were gouged into the bark of a tree. Immediately, Shirou could tell that it was not a human or an ordinary animal.

It could be a bear but as far as he knew, they did have enough claw strength to rip through bark but it was unlikely because of the climate. It was at least the middle of the summer which meant they would be hibernating at this time.

No, this was the result of something supernatural.

Just as he came to the conclusion, he heard a low growl come from the forest. It was so quiet he had thought he had mistaken it. He then heard it again accompanied by ruby-red eyes blink into the darkness.

Not giving it a moment's hesitation he incited his magical ability.

"Trace On."

Two twin swords projected themselves onto his hand and he immediately felt ten times safer. These blades were Kanshou and Bakuya, a pair of C-rank swords that were iconic in his arsenal.

When it finally stepped out of the dark forest, Shirou was now not so confident. If lions were known to be scary for their sharp claws, fur, and all-around intimidating nature, then this was an absolute abomination.

It stood on all fours like a lion and even had a lion's mane but that was where similarities abruptly stopped. It's fur was pitch black which gave off a nightmarish feeling to it and even the fur stood up like sharp needles. The one thing that really set him off though was the sinister smile it sported, looking anything but friendly.

Like an animal, it had a tail. Of course, the tail was just as twisted as it's smile and reminded him of a scorpion's tail with how sharp the end looked.

Shirou put himself into a familiar stance and prepared to face a monster.

(-)

A/N: And that's the first chapter. Mind you, this is my first story so give this story a shot as I start off pretty rocky but it gets better along the way.

Bear in mind that Shirou will be a little Oc to you guys but that's because I couldn't really grasp his personality in the movie and decided to just make my own version of his personality.

Now Ya'll might be asking "Wrath, why are you using Oath over Snow Shirou instead of Heavens Feel, UBW or original fate route Shirou."

Good question. I'm using this Shirou because he's shown the ability to trace divine constructs even though they are hollow. So, I decided to roll with that idea, and see how it goes.

In a world where basically everything is divine, that's a very handy ability. (Plus, I don't trust myself to get a good grasp on his personality ya know?)

Anyway, until next time, wrath.


	2. Chapter 2 Rivals and Enemies

Dr. Thorn, the self proclaimed strongest monster in the world stared down at the unconscious boy before him. Having been around the area for some easy prey like stragglers who ran away from home or some poor old fools who had nothing to do except die he saw this boy come from gods knows where. All he saw was a red portal appear which dropped the young magus off from the sky and he'd been unconscious since.

Now normally, he would analyze the situation to better understand it but hunger clouded the Manticore's mind. He hadn't eaten anything in over two weeks. TWO WEEKS, of nothing but pathetic birds, deer and mice. While he was an immortal monster who didn't necessarily need to eat he still enjoyed the feeling of digesting something. It made him feel nice.

So throwing little caution to the wind he stalked up to the unconscious boy poising his tail to cleanly cut open his throat. He wouldn't even realize what hit him before he was dead. Thorn felt no pity. Whatever sent him here must have been delivered exclusively to him. He wouldn't deny free food. Just as he was about to stab him right through the throat, swords from the human's body sprung up, almost impaling him had he not jumped back in time.

Looking at the human again, he saw that the swords retracted back to his body like nothing had even happened. Dr. Thorn felt pain on his paw and that's when he realized that the skin on his paw was torn off sometime during the quick exchange.

"T-That human..." He growled out clutching his paw. It would regenerate with time but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt like hell. One thing was for certain though was he wouldn't be caught off guard like that again. He swore that much. The human had just surprised him with having an ability.

It seemed to be a passive ability that protected him from anything that would cause him harm. He tested this again by picking up a nearby pebble and flicking it towards his target. Once again, a large broadsword blocked it.

The ability was a mystery to the Manticore. He had seen a lot of abilities over the centuries but this was certainly new. No god could use swords like that except maybe a son of Hephaestus but there power was pyrokinesis. Which raised the question as to what exactly he was. Human with a special ability? Demigod with an ability never seen before? Or maybe something more?

Whatever the case, he wouldn't be getting his answers until the boy woke up. So he waited.

Time went by and he was starting to lose hope. Perhaps he was dead and was just a corpse. A corpse that nobody could touch.

Then he woke up.

When the human woke up, he didn't immediately spring up and charge towards him like he thought. He stayed there smiling all happily like he hadn't a care in the world. It pissed Dr. Thorn off.

He discarded his feelings and analyzed the human.

He had auburn hair with streaks of white in it that couldn't have been a sign of old-age since he hardly looked in his twenties. No, it was something else. Maybe a genetic influence. Humans who held up the sky like Jackson often got it. His skin was light but signs of tan seemed to blend in at odd angles making him look like he had an awful sunburn in a few places. The most interesting thing about him however, was his clothes. Not it's design or anything but how torn up it was, like he had gotten in a fight.

Which meant he was a fighter. Or could at the very least, defend himself. One thing for certain was that he was definitely human. He could sense no divine blood in him or any influence of the gods. That was both good and worrying. It was good because that meant he had no ties with the gods and he was free to do with him as he pleased. It was concerning because he was an utter mystery. An Anatomy. His capabilities were unknown to him except that he had a power that involved swords.

'Hmph, what am I saying. I am Dr. Thorn, the greatest monster in the world! Like I would let some simple flesh bag get the best of me. All I have to do is have him reveal his capabilities then he's mine!" He couldn't help but grin at his elaborate plan.

He simply followed the popular phrasing among the monsters:The strong survive and the weak get killed by the strong

Monsters learned that the second they were born. While it was dangerous for humans because of monsters, it was just as dangerous for monsters because of the giants, titans or primordial beings that resided there. They wouldn't hesitate to hordes of monsters if it got them results. They were simply playthings to them.

If you couldn't keep up with the rest, you died. It was simple logic that all monsters born were filled with even him.

His 'parents' abandoned him long ago so he could learn to be strong by himself. The world was cold yes, but Tartarus was colder, He'd learn how to deceive and backstab people since he first emerged from his egg and had since used it throughout his life starting with being a teacher. Dr. Thorn was the name, he was a biology teacher that disguised himself at multiple schools and tricked Demigods into trusting him where he would then kill them.

This was no different. He simply had to wait until the boy could get close enough and then strike him with his potent poison that filled his scorpion-like tail.

While the person was not a demigod it was even better a human. Demigods were quite annoying to deal with especially ones that were experienced with their heritage and knew how to use them correctly.

The son of the sea god has proved that time and time again.

Still killing demigods was one of his favorite things to do. Seeing their faces whenever they realize just because they are a half-god doesn't mean they are invincible is always priceless.

He especially loved killing the overconfident demigods who expected him to be easy prey simply because he was a manticore. Of course, he proved them wrong very quickly by absolute blitzing past them. The trick was simple, something very few monsters realized, and it could be accomplished easily too if you just took the time.

He trained.

Over the years of failure at the hands of demigods, he'd learned how to get better with practice. It was actually quite easy to get stronger and adapt when you just took the time to think rather than just charge in mindlessly simply out of anger.

Hades, he was sure was at the level of the mighty Namean Lion.

Not like he'd ever face that monster. He was a whole different can of worms.

The spot was open for King of Monsters as Typhon was incapacitated and many tried to fill in that position but was quickly overturned and from then on, it was a never-ending cycle of proving who's dominant.

Except they were doing it wrong!

They never sought to improve themselves because they believed they were perfect. Monster pride didn't even let them even consider practicing.

He, however, practiced by killing other monsters, demigods, and humans. Learning how they fought, how they used traps, and even their weaponry!

Swords, Spears, bows it didn't matter to him. He was experienced in dodging any type of bladed weapon with expert precision.

One of the only ones who could still foil him easily, however, is that blasted son of Poseidon. He instinctively stayed away from him as he was one of the few he feared in the world.

**Flashback End.**

Shirou swiped his right sword in an arc which the beast dodged by crouching low, then sprung back up once the attack passed and speared his tail at the human. Shirou was ready however, and used his other sword to block it. The monster went into the offensive using its deadly claws and tails to try and get a cut on the magus but hardly succeeded as Shirou was nimble and was able to always shift his body just before he was getting hit.

His Mind's eye worked tirelessly to find openings. But it seemed that the monster was too experienced to make simply mistakes and could use every part of his body because it was sharp. That also made it hard to keep track of his movements and which part of his body he would attack at. The one thing that was the most dangerous was the tail. It could spring back and forth at fast speeds that were only blurs to him. Possibly that was also because of his earlier fatigue. He shouldn't have been even standing right now let alone fighting a dangerous monster.

The beast leapt on his hind legs and delivered a sky-dropping swipe forcing him to cross his swords to block the attack. The impact left his feet cratering into the dirt and his swords slightly cracked.

"WHY. DON'T. YOU. STAND. STILL!" the beast growled out as it brought more force to the attack. Finally, Shirou's swords broke leaving him open. The manticore grinned at that and stabbed at his brain. Only for Shirou to react faster and deliver a roundhouse kick to his chest. The manticore recoiled in pain but before he was sent back he wrapped his tail around Shirou's leg bringing him with the manticore. They both met a tree where they were momentarily dazed.

_This thing is intelligent! It spoke. What is this thing then?  
_

"Now that I know you can speak, tell me who are you, why are you attacking me?" Shirou demanded coldly.

"I've set my sights on you as my target. Which means you aren't getting away. Nobody gets away from Dr. Thorn in one piece." He stated, rushing towards him on his four legs. This got a surprised look from Shirou which was just what the monster needed to slam into him, knocking the wind out of him. The monster was on top of him giving him the advantage. He stabbed his claw at him but Shirou managed to lean his head to the side just barely where it cracked the ground beneath him.

Shirou recovered quickly and stabbed his blade into the monster's back causing it to roar in pain as it unconsciously swiped his hand, sending him back.

"When I'm done with you... there won't be a trace of you left!" He promised.

Shirou wasn't fazed by his threats. He threw Kanshou at him, the weapon spun like a buzzsaw towards the enemy the beast looked shocked that he would throw his own weapon but nevertheless jumped to the side to dodge it where it went to the clouds unseen.

Dr. Thorn as he now knew he was called, cheeks bulged and Shirou briefly thought that he would throw up. However he was proven wrong when a green substance was sent his way faster then he could react. It covered his body and he could immediately feel the pain as it burned his vulnerable skin.

"ARGHHH" His vision grew hasty. "P-Poison?!"

"Not exactly." Dr. Thorn cut in. "When I digest something it breaks down in my body and turns into acid. An acid so deadly that it's poisonous to everyone except me. It wasn't an easy process to do but what matters is the results." He was smirking now, having secured his victory.

"Before you get eaten alive by my acid I would like to ask you a question. Who are you? You appeared out of a portal in the sky and show mysterious abilities. Something unseen by me and my kin. You are clearly human but _what _are you?"

"I..."

"What was that, I can't hear you?" The monster approached him.

"I am not done!"

The blade he had thrown earlier came spinning back like a boomerang cutting deeply into the Manticore's chest. He let out a large roar of pain as his body was almost completely cleaved in two. The sword's anti-monster properties, made the pain thousands of times worse. The blade finally cleaved through him and return to him, where Shirou caught it easily.

"Grr, you... disrespectful human! I-I let you live for a few moments out of curiosity but screw that! Your dead!" He then retreated into the forest, leaving a large trail of blood.

Shirou frowned.

He didn't have night vision or anything so he was at a total disadvantage. Throwing his blades again probably wouldn't work since he now knew it's tricks. Luckily, he was more then a one trick pony. Tossing his blades on the ground he brought forth his next weapon. In a flash of blue light, a large black bow that was taller than he was, manifested in his left hand, while in his right a eastern sword appeared.

SWOOSH

Hearing a sound, Shirou perked up and just managed to dodge a weak swipe from the monster. Just as he was about to strike he had dissipated faster then he appeared.

The disruptions in the wind alerted him to something come towards him. It was needles. Black needles that were as thin as a toothpick. Confused, Shirou swiped it away only for it to push him back. A needle impacted his shoulder, forcing him to drop his bow. More came for him and barely managed to block it at the cost of his sword.

Whatever those projectiles were they were _fast _and strong. He roughly pulled the needle out of his shoulder and examined it, ignoring the blood that came with the wound opening.

'_This is... his hair?'_ Shirou observed.

Dropping it, he picked up his bow and traced another blade. Shortening it with Alteration, he sprung it on the bow where it fit perfectly. He reinforced his arms so they could withstand the impact shooting such a powerful bow and released it, which lit up the dark atmosphere and he could the Manticore's panicked look as it hit him directly.

Shirou knew better not to underestimate it however, and kept his bow out. It was a persistent little thing. Something that couldn't be gotten rid of without personally being ensured of it. While he felt no pity for the monster he could respect it's resolve to live.

For he was similar.

**XxX**

Dr. Thorn was regretting his actions right now. He only now realized it when half his body was torn apart and mangled and his tail was gone, leaving him with little offensive capabilities. While the human was injured as well, his injuries were less grave then his was.

Chances were, he was going to die tonight. Of course he would respawn with time but the worse the injuries the more time it took. Letting him go means he would just group up with allies then it would be harder to kill him. No, this was the prime opportunity, something he wouldn't get again. Something in his mind told him that.

* * *

Shirou would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling a little anxious. It'd been a few minutes since he'd shot him down and yet he'd been greeted with silence. He knew it wasn't dead. It wouldn't go down so easily, especially with the weak projectile he used. It would have been impossible for the untrained eye to notice but he saw it. He managed to move his body at the right angle so it wouldn't kill him.

That just made things harder. People who were about to see death often went out with a bang. After all, if your about to die why care about things morals or the right thing to do. If the monster even had a sense of Justice.

He snorted as he gripped Bakuya and his bow. His mind briefly went through the idea of simply leveling the forest. It was sure to get him. If the blast itself didn't the debris would. But the costs would be too great and people would get wary. Forests don't end up blowing up in a massive crater overnight so if he did go through with the action there would be trouble.

CRUNK.

The sound of roots being ripped out threw him out of his thoughts just in time to see a large oak tree heading straight towards him. He acted instantly, cutting it in half with the ease of a swordsmen. Expecting to see his enemy behind it he sliced at it only to see nothing. Shirou eyes darted around as he looked for his vanishing opponent. Then he felt it. The feeling of a sharp needle going through his chest. He looked down at his injury in disbelief. He had hid on the right half of the tree so he wouldn't see him, probably thinning himself so he wouldn't be noticeable.

Shirou couldn't believe he fell for it. He spat out blood as he fell to the ground.

'_T-This is it... Miyu, if I had one regret it would be that I never got to see you again.'_

**"I've finally got you! Now that you're poisoned by my tail, which can stun even a whale in half a second, you're free to be eaten! DIE!"** Dr. Thorn said with a large grin despite half of his body being torn to shreds by the arrow.

He opened up his large gaping mouth to swallow the troublesome human whole but was greeted by a sword through his brain. His face instantly shifted from cocky to shocked.

**"H-How? That's not possible, you were poisoned?!"**

"Your poison never reached me." Shirou explained. "You hit _this._" he lifted up his shirt to show that blades protected his abdomen like a suit of armor. Most of the swords were broken and even some of the shrapnel got into his chest which must have been what the blood came from. Shirou then pulled his blade out of Dr. Thorn's body, killing him.

As his body hit the ground, Shirou noticed that it was starting to dissolve into golden particles.

"What is happening to his body? Is he... reviving himself?" He worried that he would have to fight it again when he was about a minute away from passing out. He also had no more tricks up his sleeve that he could with such little mana supply. Mana was key to his fighting style and he had just used it all like a child wasting his money at a candy store.

His worries were for naught though, as his body completely vanished without a trace.

"Good. I- guess I should..." His body finally rejected him and he immediately fell to the ground, unconscious.

**XxX**

Shirou awoke from his slumber when he heard the sounds of birds chirping like they often did.

"Where... where am I?" He had a nasty headache for some reason and he felt like he'd ran seventeen marathons in one day then went swimming for a few hours before finally crashing. All he knew was that it was light outside meaning it was morning. He had no idea how long he'd been asleep but he felt like it was for a long time with how many bugs had gathered around him.

As he stood up, he noticed that there was a tree that was perfectly cut in half. The sight made him remember instantly what had happened. He was fighting a monster named Dr. Thorn and won. He was a tough son of a bastard too which was proved by his body that had multiple red marks and scratches on it. His shirt was also unusable and barely hung to his body with all the blood on it.

He started walking immediately away from the scene. It would not paint a good picture with the authorities if they saw him beaten up with most of the territory around them showing signs of battle. Though, at this point he would relish being in the company of other humans if it meant getting an easy way back home.

As he started walking through the forest he saw his first sign of civilization which was a beach. He dragged himself along since his left leg refused to obey him. As he arrived there, he saw that there was nobody there luckily. He wouldn't have to hear gasps or people asking if he was okay.

Taking off his shirt he dipped it into the water and watched with satisfaction as the blood soaked off his shirt and went into the water. He didn't even feel bad about dyeing the pool red. Although his shirt was now soaking wet it was acceptable enough to go into public with.

His next concern was the state of his body. He couldn't go into a population of people looking like how he did as one of them was bound to say something. Which meant he needed something to heal him. He had no healing magic and medics were a no go so that left him with only one safe option.

"Well, semi-safe." He said to himself. "If I look inside my Reality Marble I may be able to pull a healing item that Archer has seen before and use it to heal myself. Question is, will it kill me?"

At this point he wouldn't even be surprised if death just said yes it would. He closed his eyes and went into his inner mind and searched through every blade in his snowy world. There were plenty of weapons there but little of them were useful at this current situation. It was shocking to Shirou at how many weapons he possessed. There were enough to fill at least five museums and then some.

It was really admiring how experienced Archer was. He was like a more successful him.

His hopes were gone when nothing came up. Sure, there were weapons that came up, plenty in fact. The problem was that they all asked for _something_ in return for healing him. Now that wouldn't have been a problem normally but the prices were to severe. Some asked for another person's life, his soul, his right arm and even one asked for his first-born child which left him with chills. Especially since he didn't know _how _they would even get those things and what uses they would have with it.

Just as he was about to cease his search, an object dropped from the sky and onto the ground.

"Where did that come from?" He was confused. Just as he was about to give up hope appeared, right in front of his face. Was this the actions of fate or was it from Archer? Whatever it was, he wasn't about to take it for granted and cited his chant.

"Trace On."

Green lines circuited through his arm until it reached his palm. A green colored staff with leaves hanging off the hook appeared in his hand and he was instantly supplied with knowledge of it's history like a textbook.

The Noble Phantasm was léčitel Ran, a weapon from a nameless hero in Slavic Mythology who was said to be gifted by the gods an item that could heal his grandfather from his wounds that he had gotten from a wild animal. It's conditions to use it however, is that you need to have been wounded by something that is not human and some type of animal. Shirou wasn't sure if 'Dr. Thorn' counted as a wild animal but it was worth a gamble. What was also good about this was that it cost little prana meaning he would be able to maintain it until his injuries were fully healed.

Holding out the staff he chanted "O' Veles, heal thy wounds" The staff lit up in a green light-show blinding him for a second. He let go of it for a second as it floated mid-air. The light grew brighter and brighter until a wave of energy blasted Shirou back and into the sand.

Shirou immediately got up from his position, thinking it was an attack but found it to be the staff, shrouding him in a green aura. He pulled up his chest watched in shock and amazement as his wounds that he thought would plague him forever were sealing shut and healing. It felt like he was finally able to sit down after being up all day. After a few minutes, its job was done and it dispersed into mana.

Once he was ready to go he continued to walk through a cement trail that he assumed would bring him to the city. Indeed, he was correct and saw the bustling lights of the city and the people that walked on, doing there business for the day. Walking on the sidewalk he was met with strange looks from the civilians and not just because of how tired he looked.

Giving it barely a thought, he went on, narrowly dodging a car that was speeding past him. Traffic was high around this area apparently. Cars were everywhere here, he'd never seen a city be so busy.

He continued on until he realized something. Nothing looked familiar. He had no idea where he was going either. He expected to see a familiar block soon but he had yet to seen it. Also, scenery wasn't the only thing that was different he noticed, the people were too. They dressed nothing like Japanese people and he'd yet to see any sign that was in Japanese. It was all in English.

While there was signs in English in Japan they were rare and never this common. With that he came to the conclusion that he was not in Japan. Probably not even on the same continent. He was most likely in the United States of America.

'_What is going on here?! This doesn't make any sense, how do I go from Japan all the way to here? There's no way a simple blast could take me there and I doubt someone transported me all the way here. So what could it be?" _He questioned to himself with little answers.

**Someone's watching you.**

A voice, something that sounded so familiar yet so alien whispered. Yet he felt inclined to believe the words instantly despite no evidence to back it up. Walking for a few more blocks he noticed that stores were starting to get more scarce and so were the people. Where on one block there was forty the next there was only twenty. When he approached his fourth block there was nobody. It was just silence.

'_This is something supernatural for sure. It's too convenient that when someone's following me that people start to disappear. Possibly a bounded field was set up that forced all non-Magus to go home.' _He prepared himself for the worse, possibly Dr. Thorn's acquaintances looking for revenge or even some Magus who saw him fight.

Except his 'watcher' was a little girl. She had silver eyes that were as bright as the full moon, auburn hair not unlike his own if not a little darker tied back in a ponytail and had on a complete silver outfit kitted with boots, a jacket, and a tunic. To top it off she sported a bow slung onto her back and wore a ferocious scowl, something that didn't fit on her small, childlike body.

He noticed that she looked like a fighter. Her posture gave off the feeling of experience. Possibly even more so then him.

"Who are you? What are your intentions?" she immediately demanded. It didn't sit well with Shirou that she was talking like that and was his sisters age.

"What?!" He said confused as to why she was saying that. "I'm doing what everyone else is doing here, living life." He tried to say that as casually as he could but she didn't seem to believe it.

"You're lying." she stated. "I saw you fight the manticore earlier. You're not fooling anyone. Who sent you here?"

He had little clue as to what she was talking about. He had no allegiance to anyone not even the magus association. Whatever the case, she was serious about what she was saying.

"If you're adamant on not telling me. I'll have to force it out of you." She unstrapped her bow from her back and drew back the string, which formed a silver arrow.

Shirou looked at her in shock. He didn't expect to see a servant of all things here. Had the Holy Grail War started already? He knew he was no match for a servant, no matter what he traced. If he were fighting a servant then that meant he couldn't afford to hold back, or he'd die. It was a well-known fact that servants were, even at there weakest at least ten times stronger then a human.

The only thing that would let him keep up was his Eye of the Mind (True) which allowed him to react to attacks based off 'experience'.

Shirou instantly traced both Kanshou and Bakuya and held them in front of him. He was ready for high-level attacks to be fired. He wouldn't be caught off guard like he did with Mr. Thorn again. He underestimated it and it's resolve and paid the price for it. This time he wouldn't have such a convenient way to heal since she was _not _an animal.

He thought.

She engaged first and shot a volley of arrows which shone with silver light. He was cornered so he wouldn't have room to dodge. Luckily, his blades- Kanshou and Bakuya could dispel magic that went up to A-ranked magic so he was able to cut all of the arrows in half with relative ease.

She hardly looked fazed at his feat and instead just shot more. Five went to ten. Ten went to twenty. He kept cutting them down. However, one thing he noticed was that the attacks were getting _stronger_. They weren't easy lightweights anymore and he had to apply more force to fully destroy them. Even so, he pulled through and she eventually stopped.

"Those blades... what are they?" She questioned. Her expression showing something besides annoyance. It was still there just less prominent.

"Simple weapons. That cut down anything in my way." He replied. She scowled and shot a singular arrow.

Shirou expected this and swung his sword. However, what he didn't expect was for it to suddenly shift directions and go upwards, completely dodging his swipe. His eyes widened as the arrow made its way to his forehead. Thinking quickly, Shirou abandoned his blades in favor of blocking the attack with his reinforced arms. The arrow met hard-iron and Shirou was sent back and cratered into a wall, dazed.

'_She can do that too? I have a feeling she's hardly trying either. I just barely managed to survive that attack.' _He glanced at his arms and saw that they were bleeding lightly. '_She's definitely not like those class-card servants.'_

They were pretty easy and looked down on him which made it easier to find openings and kill them. The hardest one was Julian's father with Excalibur but he hardly had any skill and really swung the powerful sword of Arthur around like a bat.

"Your quick on your feet." she observed, watching calmly as he got back up. "It seems long-ranged will not cut it anymore. I must engage you _personally_." As she said that her bow dissipated in an array of light and two short and silver knives replaced it. It had words inscribed on it that he couldn't read.

'_I'll let her come to me. Going on the offensive is a bad idea against her. She most likely has the advantage in speed and power even with my reinforcement.' _He analyzed mentally.

She dashed towards him at unbelievable speeds and swung at his throat, forcing him to hold up Kanshou to block. He moved her blade to the side and attacked with Bakuya, it's light metal making it easy to swing fast. However, intersected his attack with her own and elbowed him in the chest, dropping his guard. She sliced with the intention of incapacitating him but he managed to bring up Kanshou in time. The force of the attack left his muscles reeling in pain and he could feel her shorter blade overpowering his larger one. Her petite form wasn't helping him either as he had to sweep low to attack while she was proficient at jumping and attacking.

They disengaged for a moment before she came back in swinging her leg sideways at him. Using the flat end of Bakuya he managed to negate the force of the attack but his moment of victory was soon gone as his sword _broke _and her leg connected his ribs, knocking the wind out of him and sending him off his feet.

She was relentless and fought like a wolf. She fought aggressively and always aimed for effective blows. Whatever servant she was it was someone powerful. You didn't get this strong and not be.

"Do you see now how pointless it is to resist, boy?"

Yup. He was definitely starting to see. If he wasn't his ribs certainly were. However, just laying down to be captured was _not _an option Shirou was acceptable with. If he died he would go down standing up and with all his might.

So he did just that and stood up.

The girl's eyebrow raised slightly. "You're still trying to fight? I didn't use my full force but I'm sure you felt that. If you simply come with me there will be no further issues." she paused for a moment. "At least that's what I would have said had I not seen that look in your face. Your mind is made up, you've accepted the grasp of death. So the only thing I can do for you is give it to you."

Summoning her bow once again she drew her arrow. This was different though he felt. She kept it on the string lower and the mana was gathering up based on the amount of wind was kicking up. A stray newspaper on the ground flew away into the distance.

The attack kept gaining strength. C-rank, B-rank, until it eventually reached the ranks of A- the highest level of mana a magus could reach- She was not playing anymore. She was dead set on killing him now.

In response to this he held out his hand towards her and poured his mana into his arm. He already knew what he was going to summon. The blueprint was in his mind and ready to be sent out at a moments notice. Purple gathered in his arm and a small rose petal was visible.

**FWOOSH.**

The arrow was shot, this was it.

"RHO AIAS!"

**AN: Long chapter, I know but A lot of things happened so yeah. **

**By the way, this is the chapter after I edited it so things are drastically different before. **

**If you have any questions, comments or concerns you can PM me anytime**

**Until next time, wrath**


	3. Chapter 3 Adjusting to New Conditions!

"RHO AIAS!"

Purple light erupted from the narrow alleyway and a conceptual shield appeared in front of Shirou.

It was the Noble Phantasm, Rho Aias, a bronze shield covered in seven layers of oxide and was used by Aias the great to block the great hero, Hector's spear. As such, it became a legendary conceptual shield that he and EMIYA use as their strongest defense.

He braced himself for the attack, as he had no illusions that he would get out of this situation unscratched especially if she was a servant.

It was hard for him to determine what servant she was or even what region she is from.

Hell, for all he knew, she could have the perfect counter for his weapon, and he was just wasting prana.

Either way, it would let him determine her threat-level depending on how far she breaks through Rho Aias.

And then it came.

When the silver arrow hit the legendary shield there was a huge spark of power that almost blew Shirou back and easily tore through the first layer of his shield, cracking his ribs.

This was one of the drawbacks to him using Rho Aias, whenever a layer of shield breaks, it projects the damage onto himself damaging him. The damage varies as its sometimes his ribs, lungs or even small wounds.

Luckily, after one layer, the attack dispersed, and he was safe. Mostly.

The attack did kick up a load of smoke and when it cleared, he was standing there in his most confident look. If he showed signs of fatigue it would let her take advantage of the situation and shift it to her.

Artemis stood there stunned at the complete dispersal of her attack, so he used this to his advantage. He knew he needed to pull out something that would flip the advantage to him

It may be a little excessive but she was a servant so she could deal with it. Probably.

"Trace On!"

A weapon materialized into his awaiting hand and he clutched it.

It was more of a massive slab of rock rather than an actual weapon and was taller than he was and was used more for smacking and pounding rather then anything else. The sword-axe had a handle on it which he could grip. Its edges were serrated, and the handle was wrapped in white cloth.

The weapon was Herakles's sword-axe made from one of his temples and used as a catalyst to something the mad man himself. The axe itself was nothing special however, it was the move that accompanied it was where it really stood out.

Now, normally he would not be able to even wield a weapon of this caliber even if he applied all the reinforcement but when he projects a weapon he can wield it just like it's own wielder and would give him just the right amount of strength he needed to use it.

She looked stunned at the massive weapon before narrowing her eyes and pointing a knife at him.

"Who are you?" she glared at him.

The glare would have melted any mortal or immortal alike yet Shirou stood there unaffected. While she was powerful and possibly a servant of great power, he'd face something worse and survived with all his body parts attached.

In his mind he visualized Herakles readying his battle stance which consisted of his right arm in front of him in a sort of claw like stance while his axe was behind him.

He mimicked the stance perfectly, everything from the stance to the positioning it was almost as if he'd practiced this his entire life instead of just a second ago.

The girl tensed and readied her knives and entered a stance he'd never seen before which consisted of her two blades held out in front of her and pointed at him.

He narrowed his own eyes at her stance, now he could see openings in her stance for him to exploit even with his mind's eye.

It really was amazing what a little girl not even older than Miyu could do these days. He wondered if Miyu was out there shooting fighting servants like he was right now.

_Heh, yeah right. I sent her to a peaceful world, I doubt she's gotten herself into any trouble in fact, I'm sure she's attending school right now._

He shook his head. He could reminisce later and for now, he had to actually get out of here alive.

Reinforcing his legs, he dashed forward, kicking up the dust around him from the impact as he readied himself to swing the axe at her.

Instead of looking worried like he thought she would she instead eyed him calmly as her silver eyes were glowing and narrowed to slits?

When he arrived at touching distance, he swung the sword-axe like a baseball bat and aimed for her chest, hoping to cave it in at best except she surprised him by flipping her knives and stopping the sword-axe from just about reaching it.

Now it was his turn to look surprised, while he was no Herakles and never will be, the attack still should have packed at least B-ranked strength at best and yet she blocked it with small little knives?

In fact, the only signs of her struggle were the ground underneath her breaking and her teeth grinding together.

_She must have endurance higher than A-rank then. Is she even of the Archer class? _

He was genuinely starting to get confused on what class she actually was because first she displayed the skills of an Assassin, sneaking up on him but then she showed high tier Archer class abilities and now she apparently had very high parameters.

He was starting to wonder if he was out of his league here. While he didn't feel fear of battling her or even dying, he still would rather not die in an alleyway of all places and certainly not for no reason.

She expressed a desire to keep him alive and show him to the 'council' as she put it which could possibly speak of people even stronger then she was or even a group of masters all gathering together.

If what he theorized was the case, then he would die as he was only barely keeping up with her and even then, he could tell she was holding back for the sake of keeping him alive.

He scowled in frustration.

Which meant he had to use the Noble Phantasm that usually accompanied this weapon. The technique was extremely hard to use because it took a lot of muscle strength that not your average human could achieve.

He closed his eyes as he imagined the Grecian hero pulling off the technique himself.

He opened his eyes and dashed forward once more, but this time, with a different technique instead of just wildly swinging the giant axe around.

"Nine Lives Blade Works!"

The technique derived off Herakles's technique, Nine lives which he used to defeat the immortal hundred headed hydra by simply shooting all a hundred of the heads with arrows instead of just strangling it with his great strength.

He later used that same technique and applied to different weapons such as the sword, axe, lance, bow, great sword.

It varied from Anti-Unit to Anti-Fortress, making it an incredibly strong technique that surpassed the laws of physics by miles.

However, another version of himself adapted that technique into a style that fit Shirou Emiya instead of Herakles and thus the name "Nine Lives Blade Works"

Dashing forward with speed that even surprised Artemis so much that she couldn't react to the attack that aimed for her upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, thighs, diaphragm, temple, head, heart all in but a second and sent her flying rocketing backward so fast he could barely see her exit.

Looking at her, he could see that the technique did indeed work and she was stunned at the very least and there was even weird golden blood leaking from her lips from the attack.

He was surprised she wasn't dead as servant or not, the technique would have killed anyone else instantly even Angelica would have perished.

He wished he could have learned that technique during the fight as he could have defeated her if he just knew that attack.

The entire technique was done at the speed of sound, so he was sure her nerves were at the least, stunned and wouldn't be getting up for a good while.

He left the alleyway and dashed away as fast as he could so he could lose her.

While he ran, he idly thought of some things that could turn out to be a problem later.

_She must own an immensely powerful class card that allows her access to a very high-level Heroic Spirit but who?_

He couldn't think of any servant that showed any of the skills the hunter used but could think of nothing.

Shirou had no illusions that he was going off home free and with his bad luck, he would be meeting her soon… too soon for his liking.

Then again, anytime is too soon.

He briefly glanced behind him to make sure she wasn't following him and luckily, she wasn't, and he was in the clear.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

He was safe. For now.

* * *

After about thirty minutes of running across buildings like a vigilante he was not, he finally found what was probably the equivalent of the Red-light district.

Houses were not very well-made and the doors and even houses looked like they would collapse with even the slightest touch. All in all, it was a crappy place and only the poorest of the poor would ever decide to live in such a district.

However, this was good for him though, as he could blend in quite well with everyone else with his torn clothing and weary eyes, nobody would suspect him to be a highly trained fighter.

Once he found an abandoned house or something or even a place someone would let him stay, he could begin his trip back to Japan and get out of this crazy city.

Now while he wasn't filthy rich back home, he could still leave decently for the rest of his life even while supporting Miyu.

Kiritusgu made sure that they would at least live comfortably should being a magus does not turn out well for him.

THROOM.

He instantly readied his stance as he sensed himself entering a bounded field.

Bounded fields were simply a mystic barrier that was invisible and used by magi to protect their magic workshop usually. The bounded field Kiritusgu put up around the estate wasn't an actual barrier and was instead an alarm system which let the owner of the house know when a magus or someone possessing circuits entered the house.

He speculated that this building replicated the same feat, yet it didn't quite seem like a bounded field to him. He'd spent years with his father and knew what it felt like and how to even break them, but this didn't feel like it was what he thought it was.

Narrowing his eyes, he approached cautiously, and readied blueprints of swords should anyone attack.

He stopped by the door of the store called Aunty Em's Gnome Emporium.

"A gnome store?" he said in confusion

The building looked mostly abandoned with no signs of someone living or even breaking into it despite its rather clean appearance.

What really caught Shirou's eyes however was the statues outside

He wasn't an artist by any means but even he can see good craft when he saw one. His blades were a prime example of this, Kanshou and Bakuya were simple yet beautiful blades that attracted both him and EMIYA and they use it as their primary weapon.

The weapon it self's ability is nothing special compared to many other Noble Phantasms, but the magnet ability to attract one blade to the other made them very handy weapons.

This was much of the same case where he could appreciate the details of the statues, they were so life-like it was almost as if they _were _actual people who suddenly turned to stone.

One statue had a woman in her mid-thirties running away or what would have been running away.

Another was even more depressing as it had a kid crying crouched down. A horrified look on his face. He could see the boy's expression was captured almost perfectly too.

When he finally finished inspecting the gnomes, he walked up to the front entrance and was greeted by two gnomes that were 'standing guard' with halberds in hand.

Without wasting anymore time, he opened the door to see what awaited him and what he saw gave him quite the surprise.

**XxX**

POV CHANGE: Unknown.

The silver-clad hunter was furious. Not only had he escaped her sights which wounded her pride more then herself, he harmed her!

Whatever he did, he forced her entire body to completely shut down to the point where she could hardly even stand, let alone run.

Her windpipe was where the damage really hurt as he managed to crush her entire windpipe to the point where she had to use her divinity to heal it.

She knew she could have just gone into divine form and end the fight right then and there, but she wanted to show her father the person who intruded upon their domain.

Now, she was going to _personally _make sure he hurt before delivering him to Olympus for his embarrassment of her

She was going to report this to father, He needed to know that she now had a new prey to catch. Not before notifying her girls that they were going hunting for their favorite sport: Hunting Men. Scum of the earth.

After Iris messaging her hunters about the situation, and what she had planned, she told them to meet her at the park, downtown so she could talk more about it.

Before she left to go to Olympus, she spotted something that put her in quite the good mood.

He made the biggest mistake any prey could ever do, while trying to survive.

He left a trail to follow.

She crouched down looking at the small traces of blood around, it wasn't much, and he would probably survive his wounds, but she could still use _that _to track him.

Of course, she needed permission from her father first, before she could do anything, so she transformed into an eagle and took to the skies.

As a goddess, it took only a thought to transform into anything she wanted, including animals that frequently appeared in the wild like a bear, fox, eagle, raven, etc.

She frequently used this form as it was more terrifying with it's silver appearance and piercing silver eyes that struck fear into even gods and goddesses.

When she arrived at Olympus and transformed back into her normal eighteen-year-old form, she walked into the Olympus council room as she passed many minor gods who greeted her out of respect.

She ignored all of them as she had a better thing to do then to interact with people who only wanted to rise in fame.

Arriving at the gate to the council room, she took a deep breathe and prepared herself.

Her father while he was not the best dad in the world, and could even be sometimes downright cruel, he still treated her and Apollo quite well.

Though, if she had to admit it, he loved her more then Apollo as the sun god always found himself in trouble somehow someway and regularly got punished.

Especially aiding that foolish Roman Praetor, Octavian his fate was still to be decided later.

She opened up the door after bracing herself and walked up at a respective distance and kneeled before her great father.

There before her, was the giant form of her father who at least the same size as a construction building.

It made for quite the intimidating sight, especially his appearance.

He had long white hair that streamed down his back along with a beard that was occasionally messy depending on the circumstances. Even though his hair was white, he showed no signs of weariness and stood tall and proud like a true king.

Once he finally noticed her, he looked down at her in interest and waited for her to say something.

"Father" she gulped "I have a request for you."

Zeus stroked his white beard in interest then spoke with his rich, deep voice that resounded across the room.

"Continue"

**A/N: And that's that. **

**Chapter is edited to the point that I'm actually proud of this chapter. I even capped off at 2.7k words too so that's great.**


	4. Chapter 4 Unknown Interactions

When Shirou entered the strange building he felt a voice in his head telling him to leave, never look back and find another place to stay.

But on the other side of him, the hungry side smelt good food and food meant fuel. So Shirou ended up following his stomach rather than his instincts.

What he saw shocked him to the core.

The store was full of food.

There were snacks, drinks, a fridge, and all the home appliances one could need out here.

He went up to the counter inspecting the place trying to find a worker so he could buy some food.

"Hello!" he yelled out waiting for someone to appear from behind the door.

Nobody came though, and he was met with silence.

That made him very suspicious because why would someone leave a fully stocked store unsupervised.

After taking a closer look at the store he found more of those creepy stone statues around the place. After a while of searching, he finally gave in and went to the back door and opened it meeting... nothing.

The store was abandoned and nobody was coming apparently.

Searching the store he found that it looked more like a house then it did a store. There were couches, refrigerators, beds, and even an oven of all things.

He would not mind staying here for a while if he could help it. But he had no idea when the owner would come in storming demanding he get out.

They didn't and he ended up sitting on the comfy looking bed staring at the portrait ahead.

It was three young lady's who looked about in their mid-twenties and they had a shoulder wrapped around each other looking more like a family then he, Miyu, and Kiritsugu ever did.

That filled him with a wave of jealousy he usually didn't feel. They were smiling and looked content with how life was going.

He briefly wondered how his time would be if his family got along like they did.

"They look so..happy"

So caught up on his thoughts he was that he didn't realize he was drifting off to sleep. Never realizing the glowing red eyes staring at him as he fell asleep.

* * *

CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP

Shirou rocketed awake at the sound, accidentally tracing a mundane sword. Looking around he found he was in the store he found and he fell asleep somehow.

"Was I really that tired?" he asked himself. As he ran a hand through his messy hair. When he fell asleep he still had on his shoes and everything yet somehow his shoes were now off and he was tucked into the covers like one would do to a child.

That scared Shirou.

If someone could sneak past his instincts they were a clear threat to him.

He couldn't lie though that it was nice since it's been days since he got actual sleep. Between training with Kirei, finding Mount Enzo and finally all the fights he was completely spent.

But now he couldn't lie that he was feeling a lot better than he did beforehand. His muscles didn't scream in pain anytime he flexed them and even though he wasn't at full mana, he could pull off more projections then he could yesterday.

Sitting up from the bed he pulled off the sheets to find him... in pajamas? that he definitely did not carry with him. In fact, he had little on him besides seven blank cards he couldn't find the purpose for.

Walking in the fridge he found some eggs that he could cook along with a few strands of bacon leftover luckily.

He went through the motions automatically, practically treating the 'store' as if he was back at his home in Fuyuki.

While he ate he processed everything that's happened so far.

He arrived in the middle of the woods lost and with no idea of where he was, and in fact, he still didn't know where he was except that he was somewhere in America and was nowhere close to Japan.

Second, he was attacked by some beast that girl said was a 'manticore' whatever that meant. He would have to stop by the library to find out what exactly that was and why it dissolved into particles when killed.

It was a serious threat and it seemed to be capable of sentient thought. In fact, it outsmarted him in multiple situations such as when it did a feint and grabbed his wrist. If there was more out there like that guy then he needed to be careful.

Speaking of the girl, she was a total mystery for Shirou.

She seemed to be able to tank multiple shots and easily used her small stature to turn the tables on him and force him to use his ultimate defense.

While it only pierced two layers that was still noteworthy since the shield was supposed to be able to withstand Anti-Army level Noble Phantasms and she got through halfway through with a half-assed arrow.

He suspected that she was either older then she looked or he just plain sucked. Probably both

He didn't mean to use Nine Lives and expected her to simply be beaten a half-hearted swipe of his axe-sword.

Instead, she showed more strength then she had any right to and forced him to reveal one of his strongest techniques.

Everybody here was proving to be serious trouble to the magus and that meant he would have to get stronger if people were anything like those dare he say monsters.

Tracing the silver knives that the girl used he used one of his more handy skills Structural Analysis to determine the history of the weapon.

"..."

He had no words for what he just found out.

He angered not just anyone. A goddess of all things.

Not in beauty, an actual goddess who controls the fundamentals of nature itself. Her name:

Artemis, the goddess of the moon, hunt, chastity, childbirth, and more importantly for him Archery.

One of the daughters of Zeus and the brother of the Sun god Apollo.

Now while he only knew the bare basics of Greek mythology simply from the multiple greek weapons in his arsenal like Harpe, he still knew about the Olympians and how ruthless they were known to be.

If he was correct in his assumption then Artemis would be running to her father right now and he would most definitely smite him down should he step outside or fly in the skies.'Guess forest are a no-go'

One thing still confused him though.

The Age of the Gods ended long ago and all the gods should have transferred to the Reverse Side of the world.

This wasn't a time of dragons, chariots, and knights he knew that for sure as he saw cars and modern-day vehicles so that didn't explain why gods or at least she was around.

He tried gleaming for more information from the knives but he couldn't get any which meant that these were replaceable weapons.

"Crap!" he swore as he was practically in the dark when it came to information.

He always knew he should have gotten a phone but never felt the need too as he felt it was unnecessary since he had a house phone. Now he was really eating his words since he couldn't pull up a map on the phone or anything.

Deciding to take a risk he tested something he thought of while running across the rooftops. "Trace On"

He knew that he could trace weapons and they would stay permanently if he so wished and only cost prana whenever he invoked the true name but he never tested to see if he could project mundane things such as his coat or something.

His circuits flared to life.

Blue lines started to appear on his hands like it always did.

Closing his eyes from the bright light he opened it to see his signature white shirt with blue sleeves and blue jeans and his black coat.

He smiled. Something he rarely ever did these days. Unlike the smiles that had no emotion in them, this one was a genuine one.

* * *

Shirou eventually getting tired of staying inside the empty 'store' left temporarily to find a library where he could learn more about Greek Mythology and where exactly he was.

If he learned how the Greeks think, he could plan accordingly but right now he simply didn't have enough information to confront them and be confident that he would answer how they wanted him to answer.

He had no doubts that if they truly wanted him right now they could do so and he couldn't put up too much of a fight.

Sure, he could use Unlimited Blade Works and he did have some god killing weapons even if he did kill a god that would just put a bigger target on his back, and when gods could control the matters of nature you tended to feel just a little overwhelmed.

While pondering how to deal with the gods he realized that the number of people suddenly decreased whenever he turned a corner.

At first, he chalked this up to it being a school/workday so everyone was at work thus nobody was around but even cars were starting to be scarce.

Looking at the traffic light he found it to be flickering between red, green, and yellow at rapid speeds. Something was the cause of it and he had a good idea of what it was.

While walking around he saw a giant of a man pass by him. They didn't meet each other's eyes but he could tell that something was up.

"So, you're the kid who gave the little girl scouts leader a run for her money eh?"

Shirou stopped moving when he said that. The man also stopped. Before turning around so Shirou could get a better look at the man.

He looked like your average businessman with black slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt yet it lacked the tie. Even though he had on such constrictive clothing he could see his muscles easily bulging underneath the fabric.

He also weirdly enough carried a briefcase yet he held it over his shoulder like one would a bat.

"Eh? Can you speak? Are you perhaps dumbfounded by who I am?" the man stated cockily as he flexed both of his arms.

Shirou wasn't impressed though. "Who are you and what do you want with me," he said, straight to the point. He never liked beating around the bush and this big dude practically screamed dangerous, possibly even more than Artemis.

"Eh, I suppose I can fill you in. Father sent me to kill you as apparently you've caused a ruckus with your little stunt," he answered and readied his briefcase which turned into a...baseball bat?

Before Shirou could respond to that statement he was forced to cross his arms to block as the bat suddenly came swinging at him crushing the floor beneath him and easily shattering his guard.

Shirou was then sent flying and impacted onto the top of the car before bouncing off into the streets.

Shirou felt a surge of pain as he looked at his arm and saw that his right arm was completely broken and his entire sleeves were blown off.

"Guess all that talk about you was true"

Shirou looked up and saw that the man was now towering over him and before he could react , the man kicked him like a soccer ball sending a shockwave before he was then sent flying once again across the road.

Before he could go any further though he traced Kanshou and Bakuya and stabbed them into the concrete stopping his fall.

Blood flew out of his mouth though and he was now having trouble seeing anything. The man was walking casually now and at a leisurely pace. Shirou futilely threw Bakuya at him which the giant flicked away with no effort. The man picked him up from the collar.

"C'mon little man, Father wants to see you," Before the man could drag him off Kanshou came flying back and impacted his back forcing him to let go of his target.

Shirou took full advantage of this and rammed the man with his shoulder.

While this didn't harm the man it put him off balance giving Shirou an ample opportunity to trip him.

"You know the saying, don't you? The bigger they are the harder they fall." Shirou taunted his opponent who looked angrier than before.

The giant got up quicker than the magus expected and swung his bat aiming to fracture his head but Shirou ducked underneath it and tried to once again trip his opponent but his foe learned from last time and jumped and tried to kick his foe simultaneously

However, Shirou redirected the kick using the flat side of Kanshou. The man however expertly recovered from that and tried to once again swing his bat but Shirou easily blocked it with Bakuya. They were now at a stalemate.

The man stopped that stalemate however with a headbutt stunning Shirou giving the man a good opportunity to punch Shirou with his meaty fist making Shirou cough up blood.

The man was crazy strong, easily the strongest opponent he's fought physically. It felt like whenever the man struck him even halfheartedly his entire body throbbed with pain. Four of his ribs were now broken from the impact.

'I need to think. I can't use my Kanshou and Bakuya strategy again. He'll be expecting that. I have to do something new!''

Shirou temporarily numbed the pain. He needed a weapon that would finish this foe off hopefully for good.

Something great

.

Finally having a good idea he got to work.

Summoning his nameless bow he traced the 'arrow' that he deemed would finish this.

"Trace On"

The Sword itself was: Hrunting, the sword of the hero Beowulf. It never missed its targets. It was a simple grey blade, lacking a crossguard that you would expect to see from a regular sword

Shirou used his spell alteration on the sword so he could pair it with his bow. He drew it at his target. The giant man seeing the threat crossed both his arms now on guard.

"HRUNTING!"

As he said that the legendary sword had registered its target and was now aiming for it at disastrous speeds.

The man grinned "SHOW ME WHAT YOU'VE GOT!"

The 'arrow' impacted the man's arms and sparks started flying from the force. Meanwhile, Shirou stood there dumbstruck.' How is he blocking an A rank attack simply by crossing his arms?!'

"HAAAAAAAA!" the man roared as an explosion followed, destroying the entire pavement and shattering glass. Shirou waited anxiously to see if he won.

"Hehe, you're definitely the real deal," Shirou heard and he widened his eyes. The smoke cleared and the man stood there, his shirt was torn up revealing his six-pack muscles but nevertheless he was fine.

Shirou shook in fright. He analyzed Hrunting and determined that it definitely should have killed him. If he could resist an attack of that caliber he was starting to run out of ideas. He had one more plan.

Shirou traced his ultimate 'arrow', a spiral-shaped sword, almost like large ice cream. It had a golden hilt to it. It looked well made

The weapon was: Caladbolg II, the magic sword belonging to Fergus mac Róich, an Irish hero from the Ulster Cycle.

It was said to cleave through the top of hills, but when turned into a Broken Phantasm it could do a lot more damage.

Shirou used Alteration and Reinforcement on this sword, turning it thinner. He slung it on a notch and drew back, preparing to launch it against his target, his final all or nothing move!

"CALADBOLG!"

Shirou released his arrow and it sped towards his target, at an alarming rate. His opponent had no time to dodge. He desperately used his pelt once again praying to the gods it would work.

The man grinned in excitement. "I KNEW YOU WEREN'T DONE YET LET'S TEST YOUR METTLE, RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!" the man then swung his giant fist which was now covered in golden light at the 'arrow'

BOOOM!

A huge explosion took place, making a mushroom-shaped cloud where the impact took place After the dust was lifted, the giant man was revealed. He was in horrible condition. His stomach had a gaping hole in it and his arms were clearly shredded and were not in working condition.

"Heh, I guess you...win," he said before collapsing.

Shirou frowned. His mission was not completed and now he felt it was not a good time for him to go to the library. So he headed back to his 'home'

* * *

After entering the store he was exhausted a wave of fatigue hit him. All he wanted to do now was crash onto the bed and sleep however when he opened the back door, a bunch of silver hunters had their arrows nocked and ready to shoot.

Sitting on his bed was the same girl as before, silver outfit and all now with her friends.

"Come, we need to have a little chat."

Shirou simply sighed.

"I need a drink"


	5. Chapter 5 Defying the gods

Zeus POV

"Father, I have something to report," Artemis said, kneeling before the King of the Gods.

Zeus looked intrigued as he stroked his beard, before gesturing her to continue.

Still kneeling she spoke. "I was hunting down the manticore as you asked, but a mysterious man appeared from a strange portal and landed in the forest. After a long fight he ended up killing the Manticore I was sent to kill"

Zeus stared at his daughter. He didn't like where this was going at all. One of the things Zeus hated was when he couldn't predict the outcome of a situation. It happened a lot in the past with his Master Bolt, his daughter being kidnapped, the revival of Kronos and Typhon being unleashed.

One would think that over the years with heroes such as his nephew Percy, his son Jason and their friends, he would stop being as paranoid but if anything that just made his suspicions grow even further.

"Who exactly is he and is he a threat to Olympus?" Zeus asked, getting straight to the point. He didn't like beating around the bush usually and would always tell people exactly what he thought.

People liked it when he did that.

Or at least that's what he told himself. Nobody denied his claims.

Artemis answered. "He's... a wizard of some sort. He could produce all types of weapons from swords, shields, and bows and it doesn't stop there. The weapons also have magical properties to them which is why I believe he's a wizard."

She took a second to let her father sink it all in before continuing. "I had confronted him and politely asked for him to surrender to Olympus and be turned in and he refused. Like all men do."

Zeus rolled his eyes at his daughters antics. While she was one of his favorite daughters, he still believed she could be a little overbearing with her views on men. If he was right she probably didn't ask nicely and instead attacked on her own volition.

He could do nothing about it of course because he has no evidence and even if he did he would simply overlook it.

He thought back to centuries ago when it was her birthday and he gave her one wish which could be anything in the world and she chose to form a group that would save women from the 'lecherous creatures that were men' and thus the group was formed.

He indulged her request and let her form the group and even give them partial immortality. Throughout the years he'd seen it grow and evolve and he would be lying if he said he wasn't proud of how far she had come. Surely farther then her twin, Apollo has.

Zeus pinched the bridge of his nose at the thought of his trouble making son. He was probably up to no good like he always is.

"So, he escaped from you?" Zeus asked in disbelief. His daughter while not stronger then him and the other main gods was one of the best at tracking and sneak fact that a mere human stalking in the shadows managed to defend against her and even escape was incredible in itself.

"Yay. He had produced an odd stone weapon and almost managed to break down my human body with the consecutive strike of nine attacks in a split-second."

Zeus quirked an eyebrow. He'd seen all types of odd things but this was surely was in the top five. If it was a demigod it would be reasonable but it was once again _a human._

His beard crackled with electricity as he spoke "Is that so? If it is as you say it is, then he's more a priority then ever before." _After I torture him for hurting you. _He left out.

His mind went through thousands of scenarios of what could happen and the one that was most likely to occur should they meet.

_If he can create magical swords, there's a very good possibility he could make a sword that could destroy us. Permanently! If that is true then he must be with us or AGAINST US!_

Zeus unconsciously cracked the throne he was standing on despite it being made of a material that was nigh unbreakable. He paid it no mind.

His main focus was the human and everything they could dig up about him from his parents, school, job, birthday, skillset, the place where he learned magic from all of it.

Whatever it took.

Then he would have to notify the other gods about the situation and have some of them help him. Athena would probably come most in handy for this situation along with Hephaestus. They were the two geniuses after all and he trusted none more then them.

"Father. I have a request to make."

Zeus raised his eyebrow before gesturing the Moon Goddess to continue. "I request the use of the divine compass to find this human and bring him back to Olympus in chains."

Zeus considered for a moment. The divine compass was made by the collective geniuses of Hephaestus and Athena and allowed one to find someone simply by putting a trace of DNA like blood, hair, or saliva and it would point towards the target. It was recently put out of it's beta phase when they had tested that it tracked from all the other realms like Elysian, Underworld and even the god's private dimension.

They couldn't obviously test it in Tartarus because it was too dangerous but they figured it would work all the same.

If it could track from even those realms then in the human world it would have absolutely no trouble as long as there was a sample to be found.

If what he was hearing was correct however, this human managed to harm her without the use of a special weapon such as Celestial Bronze and even then it still wasn't that easy.

"I will grant you access to the divine compass." Zeus proclaimed

Artemis cheered internally.

"However, first, we must test it,"

Artemis looked confused and Zeus clarified.

"I shall be sending my son out to face him and bring him. Should he fail in his mission I will leave it up to you to bring him to me where I will speak to him myself!" As Zeus said that last part lightning-sparked around him.

Like all others, the human shall be brought to god's control. He could feel it.

* * *

Shirou knew from the minute he saw all the hunters that he was screwed. He simply had no easy way to escape and the fatigue was starting to weigh on him heavily. Artemis seemed to notice that too and simply smiled.

The group with Artemis stared at him with unhidden malice. He supposed they were Artemis's group the Hunters Of Artemis.

"Where is that spawn of Zeus at?" Artemis spat as she noticed he was not accompanying anyone. He looked roughed up pretty bad and showed signs of a fight and if her theory was right then...

Shirou's eyes widened at the pieces started to form together. The monstrous strength, the cocky attitude, and the all-around brawler fighting style he fought with.

It was Heracles, the completer of the twelve labors and one of the strongest Grecian heroes to ever exist. He was the symbol of strength and bravery. When he had completed the labors he was finally granted access to Olympus and made into a god. That probably applied here too which meant one thing.

He defeated a god. He didn't really call it a win because he doubted the god was fighting at full strength. He also didn't have the Namean lion pelt that he was said to have in legends that bounced off all attacks. It was a scary thought to think about.

"I defeated him." Shirou stated with a straight face.

The hunters around him simply scoffed and one stepped forward. "Quit your lies boy! You are in the face of the goddess Artemis and any lie you have shall be punished accordingly."

Artemis held out her hand as a signal for the girls to stop there aggressiveness. Before stepping forward bravely. Shirou tensed and was ready to project as many weapons as he needed to escape from here.

"Don't even think about it." Artemis said with a dangerous look in her eyes "I know what you are about to do. You're going to produce swords but I'll tell you this; I'll shoot you down before you can. I swear it."

_She's right. My hands are tied and I'm still exhausted from fighting Heracles for so long. Healing took me quite a lot of mana also and I can probably only trace about one high-level Noble Phantasm before I'm exhausted. She has all the cards in her hand._

So with a sigh, he held up his hands high in the sky surprising the hunters.

One of the hunters had striking electric blue eyes and messy black hair. Her outfit consisted of a silver coat with a black shirt underneath it, black pants and a silver tiara on her head. She had freckles sprayed across her face and gave off a tomboyish vibe to him. She also radiated power while not as powerful and dense as Artemis was still quite powerful in itself.

She moved like lightning and snatched both of his arms and moved them behind his back before kicking his knees out from underneath him.

"Take him to the camp, I'll finish up here." Artemis stated and Thalia nodded before implanting a boot into his face knocking him out.

** XxX**

Shirou wiped his blurry eyes and awoke from his slumber. He had a dream that he was captured by Artemis and was now dead, imprisoned or dismembered. He didn't know where he got any of that from.

He stood up and instantly regretted it as he felt a wave of pain resound against him making him gasp. Looking down he could see silver cuffs on him that was glowing indicating it used magic.

_So it wasn't a dream... I actually was captured by Artemis and her girls and am now probably going to be executed by the other gods if not by the hunters.  
_

Any good Archer had at least heard of the Hunters of Artemis and he was no different despite coming from Japan. They were a ruthless group of hunters who swore an oath to never like or sleep with man again in exchange for the protection of the goddess. One of his favorite happened to be Atalanta, the supposed to be princess of Arcadia.

He remembered reading bedtime stories to Miyu about Atalanta and her accomplishments and how his sister always used to like stories like that. Now here he was, figuring out that everything he had thought of _was _true and he was now inside the man-hating hunter base.

He could see two women guarding him right now, each armed with a bow and arrow on there back and a spear and a sword in the other.

The first girl had hazel eyes. She had the standard silver bow and quivers on her back. She had a scowl on her face as she watched him like a hawk. As an accessory, she had on a bandana on her head.

The second one was one he was very familiar with because she was the one who knocked him out. Not like he put it against her she was simply doing her job.

They were idly chatting with each other about something Shirou couldn't quite hear so he got closer.

"I know right, how could someone defeat the manticore so easily! Last time we tried, we needed at least fifteen girls to help shoot them down!" Hazel eyes said.

"That's cuz I wasn't there. If I was there that ol bastard would have fell before my spear and you know that." Electric eyes said cockily.

Shirou's eyes widened. They knew about the manticore he fought the first day he arrived at the city. If they were telling the truth, the manticore was as dangerous as he thought which was why it was good he killed it otherwise it would have defeated more people.

He was no Kiritsugu but he still couldn't stand aside watching innocents die for no reason. Though his ideal was still the same and he would sacrifice everyone for Miyu she wasn't here as far as he knew which meant he only had others to save.

"Too bad that damn manticore will respawn again." Hazel eyes tsked "I swear sometimes it gets old hunting down monsters when they can just come back just as easily."

_What? Did she just say that monsters can come back from the dead? Does that mean there's a way to revive the dead then?_

He thought of his father who had died from an unknown illness and left him to take care of Miyu and groom her into a weapon they could use. No, there was no telling what his father would do to her if he found out that she was still not granting there wishes.

"Well yeah, it does get kind of tedious sometimes." blue eyes admitted twirling her spear around. "But, it gets the job done. Nico is lucky with his Stygian Iron sword which can get rid of monsters for a long long time." _I've never heard of Stygian Iron before. Is that a new metal found?_

Hazel eyes brightened "Then why don't we just use that Thalia!"

Thalia shook her head "Only a child of Hades can use it otherwise, it will just kill the user." Hazel eyes looked downtrodden and reminded Shirou of a puppy who didn't get what she wanted. He didn't know why someone so... not intimidating joined the hunters in the first place.

They must have sensed him looking at them as they stared at him.

"Oh, your awake." Thalia said with no enthusiasm "I didn't expect you to regenerate so fast. It's only been about... four hours and your already almost fully healed."

Now that surprised Shirou. He didn't remember ever having a healing factor that could heal such grievous wounds like a punch straight from the god Heracles himself. In fact, he didn't have one at all! But the proof was right in front of him via no cuts. The only thing that truly looked beaten up was his clothing which they didn't bother to remove.

Whatever the wounds did to him did not include his organs and he still felt like jelly inside. He had absolutely no mana to use for probably an hour.

"Seems like you don't know yourself." she stated looking at his confused expression. "How did you beat Heracles when you don't even know your own powers?"

_I used a bow an arrow and sniped him with the equivalent of a nuke._

He said nothing. She was not deterred and kept pushing on.

"I'm the daughter of Zeus by the way." lightning erupted in the sky but she ignored it. "I've always wanted to defeat my brother, Heracles and yet you were able to beat him before I did, how?"

"You don't seem to be angry at me," Shirou noted. She had no fury in her eyes or any signs of wanting to tear off one of his limbs for something his gender did to her. Hazel eyes was a different story entirely.

Thalia simply shrugged her shoulders. "I was never really a man-hating enthusiast like all the other hunters. If anything I was forced into this position. Of course I got used to it but before I wasn't very happy with this situation."

Now that made Shirou curious. Why join a group if you didn't want to be in it? He was pretty sure there was a perk given to one by joining the hunters. He had no idea what it could be though.

"I suppose there's an exception to every rule huh?" Shirou said with a dry laugh.

Thalia looked at him oddly and was about to say something until they heard footsteps and a women appeared. She was easily as tall as he was, and had auburn hair tied into a ponytail, silver eyes and the normal hunting outfit they all had. Something about her was very familiar to him.

"Lady Artemis!" Thalia and Hazel eyes exclaimed bowing.

_So that's Artemis? She looks so...different. He was having a strange feeling he couldn't put his finger on before shaking his head discarding the feeling in favor of another concern. She could change her entire appearance, body, and basically everything!_

He'd seen magi give up families for a chance to freely alter their appearance and age and a god did it with ease.

"Open up the cage. I already talked to father, he's assembling the council as we speak." Artemis stated gesturing them to open it up.

They nodded in sync before carefully opening up the cage and dragging him outside. When he stopped to observe the environment they pushed him roughly and told him to keep going.

He thought of many swords he could use to escape the situation. But remembered he had no mana and these shackles probably weren't helping the situation out at all. He knew limited martial arts that Kiritsugu taught him but he doubted it would be of any use against a god who he could barely take on at full power.

Which meant he had to comply with their demands until he could regain some mana. Though he had to say he was quite anxious to see the gods in all their glory. It felt weird to think that there was actually a higher power that was judging them from up in the clouds.

Had they judged he and Miyu's fate then? Did they decide he wasn't worthy of taking care of Miyu and that was Julian's purpose to take her away?

Suddenly a lightning strike straight from the heavens struck down making Shirou pause in shock. He wondered if Zeus was really trying to kill him right now.

When the lightning cleared a chariot was revealed which was colored in royal blue with gold along the edges and strapped to the chariot was two horses, one white one black. The most unique thing about them was that they had WINGS.

_T-That's a Pegasus. One of the most rare Divine beasts in the world and the ultimate chariot for any Rider class servant to have._

He received a memory from Archer of a long purple haired lady riding on top of a beautiful Pegasus. They truly were beautiful creatures to him.

Artemis seemed to think the same and stepped forward to gently stroke the horses getting a neigh out of them.

"Guess she's not all as bad as I thought." he mumbled to himself. Thalia who was on his left raised an eyebrow at his comment but said nothing. Though the look in her eye said enough.

They then loaded him up to the chariot and put him into the middle seat while they sandwiched him on his left and right so he couldn't escape. They also had there weapons on their lap, ready to attack should he move.

"I'll meet you up on Olympus Thalia," Artemis stated before leaving to go to a large silver tent. The tent flashed bright and then... nothing.

The Pegasus as if sensing her departure started trotting at speeds normal horses could only dream of achieving and then it was when they were about to collide with a mountain it started walking on air and went at dizzying speeds leaving Shirou with the feeling of wanting to throw up.

Mostly because the horses were a streak of white and black that they couldn't even comprehend.

The hazel-eyed huntress had an uncomfortable expression on her face but tried to hide to play it tough but failed miserably.

Thalia on the other hand looked absolutely frightened perhaps even more than both of them was, which was strange since she was a child of Zeus and the skies were her territory. Instead she held onto his arm like a child and gripped it so hard he could feel his arm slowly breaking.

As if sensing the passengers distress the Pegasus then started diving up, down and sideways multiple times as if to taunt them.

"AHHHH. STOP THE CHARIOT." Thalia shrieked as the Pegasus kept swerving up and down. After a while, both of the hunters were now holding onto his hands, not to keep him safe but for their own peace of mind.

He found it funny that throughout the whole ride he probably could have escaped with ease and none of them would follow him. Though that would not be a good idea as they were so high in the sky that if he dropped down he would die no questions asked.

So he stayed and endured their bone crushing hands and shrieks throughout the whole ride.

In about ten minutes, they could see the figure of a large building that looked like a mansion in the distance. It was suspended in the air impossibly and looked to be something no man could dream of to build.

'This must be Olympus' Shirou thought to himself in amazement. There was was buildings on each clouds which he assumed was each god's shrine and in the middle of it all, a large building.

The Pegasus then slowly trotted down until they were finally on land. Not really because they were still in the air but far enough away from a steep drop. The two hunters instantly rushed out and kissed the ground in thanks of finally being on the ground.

"Thank you Lady Artemis for finally letting us land!" Hazel eyes proclaimed bowing down.

Shirou through it all looked amused before calmly getting off the chariot and giving a curt bow to the Pegasus who neighed once more before flying off into the distance.

'I wonder what Miyu would say if she saw me riding a pegasus from a fairytale,' Smiling fondly he thought about how her expression would be like. She would have stars in her eyes and she would politely ask to ride it.

Thalia and the huntress who he's had yet to know the name of scowled at the Pegasus' back in disdain. They probably hated the Pegasus simply for the torture they brought upon the two.

Once they were done glaring holes into the Pegasus' destination they went back to their assigned duty and cornered his left and right.

With that out of the way, they walked toward the gate and it instantly opened for them.

'Must be what it feels like to be royalty' Shirou quipped as he kept walking.

They ran into a few people who he assumed were gods or deities although one for some reason stuck out to him more than others. A bunch of minor gods looked at them or more specifically; him in confusion.

_They must sense I'm human._

The teen had sea-green eyes, messy black hair, and wore bronze armor.

He gave off an odd presence to the magus but he couldn't put his finger on why it was. Thalia seemed to recognize him and they exchanged nods. The man gave him a once-over but didn't say anything.

They finally arrived at another massive gate which reminded him of one that a castle would have in fairytails. He figured that through this gate he would see all of the gods themselves.

He felt a mix of excitement and panic rise up in him. Beings could instantly wipe him out with but a thought and he was now about to see FOURTEEN of them.

How far has he come.

The door then opened and the gods were greeted to fourteen large figures that looked equally intimidating and giant.

When they saw them entering they all focused their eyes on him specifically.

One in particular gave off an aura of power that almost forced him to kneel; he stood in the middle of all the other gods. He had white hair, a white Greek Chiton on, and although he looked elderly which Shirou knew was only an illusion and did nothing to hide the power behind him.

He could easily tell who that was with just a glance. Anyone could, really if you've heard just a little of Greek Mythology and it's main and most powerful figure.

Zeus, King of Olympus, and the father of Artemis.

Amber eyes that were hardened from battle and loss versus electric blue eyes that occasionally had lightning spark from them. Shirou was determined to not look away first. That would show he was submitting to the god's authority.

"What is thou's name?" Zeus finally spoke. All went quiet in the name of the god's voice. It was most likely the ultimate peace maker and stopped many arguments.

"Shirou. Shirou Emiya." He still kept contact with the god's eyes and felt himself slightly waver. He was really starting to intimidate him but he refused to show it.

"Well then, Shirou Emiya you know why you are here no?"

"I did nothing wrong." Shirou defended.

"SILENCE!" Zeus declared with a thunder strike. "You know very well why you're here. You've harmed an important member of Olympus and threatened her safety. Matter of fact, where is my son at?"

Zeus and the others looked around but did not see the arrogant son of Zeus. The one who he assumed was Hera, breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's gone."

"WHAT?!"


	6. Chapter 6 And the winner is

**I'm back with another chapter and yeah I have seen all ya'll talking about my mistakes with the Hercules being roman and Heracles being greek. My mistake. **

**Anyways yeah I guess I'll fill you guys in on some stuff that I haven't said yet in the story.**

**The pairing will be Artemis x Shirou and that will not change. For some reason, there are not many COMPLETED ones out there. **

**I'm going to be first.**

**Also, this is not ubw or anything this is fate kalied and while I haven't seen it really I want to try my best to make a good fic. In this story swords that haven't been shown in canon will show up why? Because I can.**

**I also like this version of Shirou the best for some reason, all the other routes have something about Shirou I just don't like. But anyways I would really appreciate it if you guys could let me know all the key things I need to know about fate kalied and stuff to make this the best fic in the fandom. My goal is to be the first 100k story of the Percy Jackson x Fate **

**Anyways enough rambling let's continue with the story!**

Right before Zeus was about to do something a women in a peacock feather dress grabbed his arm stopping him.

_She must be the goddess Hera, Queen of Olympus. _

It wouldn't surprise him if it was not since Zeus was known to have sired many offspring from even different races entirely. Though, he was positive this was the goddess of marriage herself.

"Wait a minute Zeus, you need to hear the whole story out before you make such rash decisions." Hera chastised him with a weak punch to the arm.

All the other gods simply stood there watching. Not even attempting to quell their father/siblings anger.

If anything they looked relieved that the god was defeated. Hera herself did nothing to hide her joy and he was sure that was the reason she even stuck up for him. Goes to show that grudges that gods have do not ever go away. He kept that in mind.

"Well then? Don't stand there looking stupid, tell me why you intruded on my domain?!" Zeus shouted shaking the whole room while Hera tried to hold him down to no avail.

Shirou steeled himself for what was to come. He would need to choose his words very carefully or else he could end up incinerated to ashes.

"Lord Zeus, I never attacked either of the gods first they attacked first and I merely defended myself from their assaults." Shirou justified before continuing "I accidentally came here anyways." Shirou mumbled the last part to himself.

Zeus glanced at a blonde-haired man who nodded.

"Artemis!" Zeus glared at his daughter "You know the rules about attacking mortals, why did you disobey it?"

Artemis shrinked under his stern gaze. "Father, I assumed he was here to threaten Olympus himself with his strange powers. He even defeated the Manticore."

The other gods looked impressed at the feat.

Zeus only pinched the bridge of his nose for all intents and purposes, looking weary and tired.

"If that is the case and you are telling the truth then it can only be put into vote to decide your fate."

"Let's decide with a battle to the death!" the only man in armor exclaimed holding up his fist. "We should also trade weapons, I've got many weapons you want in return for giving me one that could defeat that brawler."

"Ares, honey sit down now is not the time," a smooth and seductive spoke. Whoever she was had a great effect on the god as he visibly calmed down and sat back down.

Now he knew the name of the person; Ares the god of war. It would only make sense that he was in constant bloodlust and loved anything that involved bloodshed, war or pain. It was simply in his nature.

He wanted to stray the conversation from him so they wouldn't suddenly question his magic which he was determined to keep hidden for as long as possible. Or at least, the TRUE concept behind it anyway.

Luckily, someone spoke up and asked a question he wanted to hear.

"Shirou Emiya was it? I'm quite curious as to why you're here if you want to cause no trouble? Is it possible you want to strike a _deal _or something?" a man asked and Shirou turned towards him. He was deadly pale and gave off the feeling of dread simply looking at him and his eyes were as dark as the abyss. He had on a helmet on a throne that somehow glowed red on the throne.

"I'm not here of my own volition. All I can truly say is that I had accidentally stumbled upon this city and next thing I knew I was attacked by a monster. Still don't know the name of this city."

"This is New York City kiddo," a man with a New York accent said with his arms behind his back. He looked like a Greek version of peter pan with pointed ears and elfish grin. He also had a winged helmet and a staff with two snakes around it. Shirou could instantly tell who this person was simply from the winged helmet. He is Hermes, the god of travel, trade and wealth.

_'New York? That... actually explains so much.' _From the tall buildings, messy area, and the multitude of cars and it all made sense. While he had never personally gone there his father had a job there once. He told him of how it was and had one word for it.

"A mess," Kiritsugu always said exasperated. That always made him laugh whenever his father showed emotion like that.

"You are not affiliated with our Pantheon." Zeus stated and Shirou nodded. He was never a religious person and even then he only knew Shinto gods like Amateratsu and Tsukyiomi and that was only because they learned about them in school. What he did know about the Greek Pantheon was from his traced Grecian weapons.

"So, let me get this straight, you 'accidentally' stumbled upon our territory, got attacked by the Manticore and somehow managed to kill it, arrived at the city and defeated my daughter before later on destroying my strongest son?" questioned Zeus.

That was actually... very true if you wanted to heavily abridge the story. It was one thing after another and he realized he hardly could catch a break for more then what felt like ten seconds.

"That is correct." Shirou confirmed with a nod.

"Well then I'll take your word for it." Zeus said and Shirou breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't get happy yet boy we still must do a vote on whether or not your innocent or not."

Shirou felt a bead of sweat drip down his sweat as the gods started voting. He prepared an escape plan if things did get ugly. He had a decent amount of mana to trace a few more weapons if need be but he would have liked it if he had more.

These days he felt like he never was at full prime condition and is always at half-way strength.

"Then it is decided. We will do it the traditional way that we always do it, speak Yay for sparing the human and letting him free and Nay for executing or imprisoning him to the darkest depths of Tartarus."

He had no idea what a 'Tartarus' was but he doubted it was pretty. It probably was the Greek version of hell. If so, then this would be more anxious then he thought it would be.

"Yay." Athena voted fixing him with a stare that creeped him out to the core. It looked like she was examining every single cell in his body and trying to understand it completely.

"Yay," Hephaestus responded, idly messing with a controller of some sort.

"Yay!" Aphrodite said, for some reason excited. Shirou didn't think too hard about it though.

"Nay." Demeter replied for a reason he didn't know. She was one of the only ones who hadn't spoken to him or even looked at him the entire time which made him more confused.

"Nay." Dionyus grumbled out the portly man.

"Eh, Nay." Apollo said with an odd amount of venom confusing the Magus before he realized that Artemis was her twin sister and him hurting her probably did not get him on the gods good books.

That surely did suck.

"Yay." Hera said expectingly.

"Yay." Poseidon voted with an odd smile on his face like Shirou had done something Poseidon had always wanted to do.

"Uh huh." Ares said getting multiple glares before grumbling out "Yay."

"Yay." voted Hermes while his snakes George and Martha also croaked "Yay"

The snakes talking didn't even faze him at this point. He was too used to all the strangeness that something so meager just didn't effect him anymore.

Hestia shook her head from the hearth. "I refuse to vote Yay or Nay and will remain neutral."

Nobody questioned her on it so he supposed it was a usual occurrence at this point. Shirou could also respect someone like her. Her voice to him was so soft that he had a brief reminder of Sakura.

"Yay, why not give the kid a chance if not I'm sure he can work for me" Hades said with a small smile that Shirou didn't get. He had an expression of expectancy.

The King of Olympus went last and finished off dramatically.

"Yay"

Then there was Artemis. He wouldn't have blamed her if she had said no. He did harm her and almost got her in trouble with her father but she surprised him.

"Yay." Artemis decided.

"Ten of us have deemed you trustworthy to spare you. However, should threaten Olympus that vote will quickly change." Zeus promised him. Shirou nodded in understanding. The words were hinted with an underlining tone of "If you harm my family again, I'll smite you to ashes."

"Hey father, we should have Shirou fight that squid head!" Ares once again spoke up getting everyone to look at him.

"Do NOT call my son such ridiculous names or else you're going to give our guest the wrong idea!" Poseidon exclaimed loudly and slamming his trident down on the ground.

Shirou suddenly got a mental image of a guy with a squid for a head wielding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other and almost laughed at loud.

"Ares has a point." Zeus admitted getting a "hey" from his brother "I believe Shirou Emiya would best face off against one of our strongest demigod, Perseus Jackson."

"Perseus?" Shirou parroted in confusion.

Zeus nodded "Not my glorious son Perseus it's another one that Poseidon stole the name from. He goes by Percy Jackson."

"Me and Sally agreed with that name because it is glorious! You are hardly the first to come up with it." Poseidon scoffed. "Also, my son will not be put in danger from an unknown that we have no idea can do!"

_'Does he not know I'm right here?' _

"That is why we are doing this brother to find out more about him! And I am Zeus, King of the gods and when I proclaim something it is **law.**" Zeus said coldly generating a lightning bolt into his hand. Shirou gasped at the amount of mana put into it. It was something he could hardly comprehend nonetheless trace.

He started breathing heavily from the amount of mana in the air and could hardly stand on his feet if it wasn't for the intervention of the other hunters near him. They looked at him in a concern.

He got flashes of EA, the sword of rupture and the one weapon that could truly destroy the world. He realized now that the gods were no phony's and had actual dangerous powers."

Poseidon in return snatched his trident and held it out too and just when it looked like they were about to battle...

"Enough!"

Shirou looked at the speaker. It was Hestia, the goddess of the hearth and the one who most reminded him of Sakura. She wore a chiton like all the others and had chocolate brown hair that went down to her shoulders. Along with the kind-looking face on she didn't stand out much compared to the others.

And yet both of the brothers stopped releasing their divine energy almost instantly.

"We need to stop this bickering. We are family. We don't fight amongst each other." Hestia said gently. Shirou could already tell that she was used to doing this many times; she looked as calm as he did on the outside.

"They will fight only for fun and not to kill or cripple. Is that fine?" Hestia negotiated. Shirou was glad. He really didn't want to kill anyone. But he would if he had to of course, but he would prefer not to. So that just put him in a sense of relief.

Ares whined, "C'MON, I want Percy to die!"

Poseidon gave him a warning look.

"Fine." Poseidon grumbled, swallowing. "But if he harms him anymore I am stopping him."

Zeus nodded and gestured to Hermes. "Retrieve Perseus Jackson here immediately," he ordered.

Hermes gave an army salute then vanished faster than Shirou could see. Shirou wondered how Perseus would like. He imagined a 7-foot man with a large trident. Maybe a sea creature since he was the Son of Poseidon.

While Hermes went to retrieve the demigod Shirou engaged in idle conversation with various gods. They all asked all about his life although and all he gave them was things he did in school he could tell they weren't satisfied with that but didn't comment on it. They were like the magus' his father warned him about. Slimy and manipulative it was simply in their nature to know what exactly could pose a threat to them. He withdrew talking about having a sister as that could easily be used against him.

"How much cereal do you eat every day? You look so well muscled." Another Olympian commented. Demeter if he remembered correctly. They introduced themselves and some of their domains in their idle chit-chat.

All of them were engaged in conversation with him besides Dionysus, Apollo, and not surprisingly Artemis.

He couldn't lie that he got a better perspective of the gods now that he's spent a few minutes interacting with them. Of course, he was still on guard but they almost seemed... human. Not literally of course and their uncaring attitude towards humans who weren't relevant was annoying but manageable. Besides that though, they all have children and most seem quite fond of them. Poseidon in specific as he practically beamed with pride whenever his son was mentioned.

If someone told him a few days ago that he would be in Olympus and conversing with gods about idle chit-chat he would have laughed in their face and then proceeded to stay at least six feet away from them.

Speaking of six feet a man suddenly appeared next to Hermes. He was no doubt the man who he's heard so much about.

He had sea-green eyes that confirmed his parent was none other than Poseidon, black hair that was messy and shaggy yet somehow worked him. He wore an orange short-sleeved shirt that had the words "Camp Half-Blood". Then he wore normal blue jeans, not unlike the ones Shirou was wearing.

He had both his hands tucked into his pockets most likely fingering a weapon of some sort. He felt that was something he did often when nervous.

All in all, he looked about as casual as Shirou did.

He had an ominous feeling to him though but he couldn't detect why.

"Now that he is here, we shall begin the battle" Zeus boomed out across the room.

Zeus snapped his fingers and the scenery changed and they now stood in a gladiator arena like ones you would find hundreds of years ago. The gods were stationed up above still in their thrones staring down at them. Shirou had a feeling the reason they were high up wasn't simply so they could observe better.

The two were now left in awkward silence. Neither knew what to say to the other. Or had any reason to introduce each other since they knew each other already.

"We will now begin the testing."

"3"

"2"

"1"

"FIGHT!"

Like an alarm bell ringing, both fighters got into their stances. Both circled each other warily. Neither knew what the other was capable of besides rumors that could easily be false. All Shirou knew was he was a son of Poseidon and supposedly the strongest one at that. He supposed that meant he had good control of water, was a master swordsman, and was experienced in many fights.

Percy however, knew next to nothing besides his opponent fought Herakles and won supposedly. And he could summon weapons from thin air. That wasn't really too shocking and it didn't even make it into his top 10.

Shirou charged first tracing his two favorite weapons: Kanshou and Bakuya and charged forward, thus beginning their battle.

Shirou closed the distance between the two and was now right in front of Percy, swinging his white blade horizontally he aimed for the demigod's stomach which would instantly end the fight if it connected. That was how Shirou fought. He aimed to end the fight as quickly as possible and not use any flashy moves. Percy easily dodged it by moving just out the way of the attack and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a ballpoint pen?

His confusion cost him as Percy somehow was already in front of him and sliced his cheek. Shirou ignored it however in favor of examining the blade the demigod now had. Using his skill 'Structural Analysis' he analyzed the weapon before him.

Its name was Riptide, a sword that once belonged to a woman named Zoe who gave it to Heracles long before it was in Percy's hand. The sword had a LOT of owners and it was even in the hands of the legendary Chiron, Trainer of heroes. The blade had the ability to return to the users' pockets when thrown which Shirou noted for later. Shirou also got the history of the blade but forced it down deeming it unimportant for now.

Now knowing everything he needed to know, he once again charged forth and swung Kanshou while Percy also swung Riptide when Shirou was about to use his other blade Percy grabbed the wrist and threw him with a surprising amount of strength.

_'So he is a grabber.' _Shirou noted to himself. That was not good. He probably knew martial arts of some sort as he was able to fend him back.

He needed a weapon that would turn the tide.

Something that would _definitely _hurt.

He found it.

"Trace On." he chanted.

**A/N: DONE boy did this take a while this took forever to make and finish, I literally came up with this stuff on the spot really. IF you have any suggestions on what I should change feel free to tell me in the reviews section. I am tired as hell. BUT I will make the next chapter pronto.**

**Also, before you guys go screaming at me about Percy having Curse of Achilles, let me tell you that he would stand no chance without it. It's not like he's unstoppable I'm sure there are plenty of ways to stop it and it's probably one of those cursed swords.**

**The more support ya'll show the more I'll keep coming up with chapters to produce so when I hit 100 in favorites maybe I'll give ya'll something special.**

**Until next time, peace**


	7. Chapter 7 Opportunity of a Lifetime

**Manman- Thanks man Appreciate the support **

**E'llo- Thanks for the support man.**

**Ghostly- I have. I'm just writing how I believe the story would go and read over the chapters again I have updated it to make it less ubw-ish. Also, yes, the Artemis and Shirou relationship will, of course, be a slow burn, we all know Artemis will play very hard to get. Tune around to find out how they get together though.**

Shirou felt the grip of the weapon in his hand.

It was-

_God Force. The weapon used by the hero Lu Bu a Chinese general. It was not actually just one weapon in fact it was multiple weapons combined into one. It could slash, thrust batter, scythe, and sweep._

Now while Shirou has never wielded a halberd before in his life Lu Bu _did _and when tracing a weapon he learns the unique fighting style of the user. So he instantly knew all the functions of the weapon and with this, he wouldn't have to keep tracing and wasting mana.

The audience which was the gods and a few lingering demigods looked interested in seeing the weapon on display. Now while Shirou wasn't one to show off he felt it couldn't hurt to give the audience something to cheer for.

Running towards Percy he used the halberd version and thrust it toward the demigod in a blur of motion. Percy for his credit blocked it but the force of the strike rattling his bones thus stunning him. Shirou taking advantage of the situation turned the halberd into an axe and slashed towards the demigod who tried to match the attack yet the force of the attack disarmed him allowing Shirou to use the flat side of the weapon to strike him straight in the face.

Somehow though Percy wasn't out of the fight and got back up if a little shakily.

_'That would have taken down even a servant!' _

He was starting to see what made this demigod so special.

Percy then reached into his pocket and pulled out the same pen confirming what Shirou already knew. He once again turned it into the shining bronze sword from beforehand.

Percy instead of charging forth closed his eyes and suddenly the ground started shaking. Out of the ground a massive stone fist erupted from the earth aiming to strike him. Shirou jumped back before it could reach him transformed the axe into its bow form and shot multiple arrows in quick succession easily destroying the fist before it could reach him.

Shirou wasn't out of the water yet though because when he was about to reach the ground spikes appeared beneath his feet. Shirou couldn't stop his momentum and instead with his quick thinking traced a round shield on which he placed beneath his feet propelling himself into the air.

Shirou then rolled to cushion the fall.

_'You served me well shield' _Shirou said in false sadness as the shield was now pierced right through.

Shirou nocked his bow and fired 4 shots with frightening accuracy at his opponent who in a blur swiped all the shots aside with his sword.

Deciding to use the same strategy as before he transformed his bow back into a halberd and thrust it forward however Percy learned his lesson from last time and sidestepped the thrust instead of matching it and stepped inside Shirou's guard aiming to slice him with his sword. Shirou in a last-ditch effort transformed his halberd into a new form which was a scythe. That luckily gave him the speed necessary to quickly bring his weapon and block the demigods' sword.

The both of them were now in a stalemate with neither gaining ground against the other. Percy seemingly tired of the stalemate, threw his sword to the side surprising Shirou and landed an elbow strike right on his jaw leaving a nasty black bruise there. Before Shirou could recover Percy was already aiming a kick right at his face which Shirou rolled over to block.

Shirou then transformed his scythe into a halberd and used the long-range of it to rapidly jab at Percy's stomach in quick succession before punching the demigod sending him crashing into a wall.

The gods were now leaning closer and were interested on how things were going to play out.

Shirou could see that his demigods and a girl who he assumed was her girlfriend were cheering for Percy to get back up.

He realized though that nobody was cheering for him.

"C'MON SHIROU KICK HIS ASS!" a violent voice said and Shirou turned towards the voice finding it to be Ares.

_'I-I'm going to pretend I didn't see that' _Shirou thought in a deadpan.

Just as Shirou was about to leave, Percy got up from the human-sized crater and Shirou stared at him with a blank expression on his face.

Percy, besides his clothing now torn in various faces, was perfectly fine and no blood was leaking anywhere.

'_He must have some type of protection magic on him or something!' _

Deciding to test something he turned his halberd back into a bow and drew back the string and an arrow appeared on the string. However, unlike last time he instead charged the arrow up as it overflowed with energy then he released it straight at the demigod.

"Tincture Trismegistus Shoot!"

The arrow released and a large explosion occurred blinding all from seeing. Shirou waited in anticipation to see if his theory was correct.

He could feel the fury of Poseidon even from down here. He ignored it however as the smoke cleared and Percy was standing there with a shield in front of his face. He didn't know where that came from though as he definitely didn't have it on him.

The shield however moments later cracked then finally broke apart revealing Percy who looked exhausted.

'_So he can still feel fatigued'_ Shirou noted. Whatever it was that was protecting him didn't come for free. He would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling fatigued himself though and he had about a quarter of mana left in him. Luckily it was enough to trace a few B ranked weapons at best.

"Sword Barrel. Full Open." Shirou summoned thirty standard swords which hovered behind his back menacingly, not unlike Gates of Babylon. He did, after all, create that to easily counteract the gates.

"Fire." all of the blades flew at rapid speeds towards the demigod who looked shocked until his eyes steeled and he started swinging wildly but precisely at every blade that came toward him. The ones he couldn't block simply bounced straight off his body.

_'He must also be too tired to use his earth powers again' _As Percy could have easily blocked that if he summoned multiple walls of earth. They were only mundane swords at best anyway.

Percy beforehand was panting but it wasn't visible to all but now it was clear. Shirou felt a little pity for him as it must have been hard blocking all those swords he would know.

Instead of giving up like he thought though Percy closed his eyes and held out his arms on both his sides concentrating on something. Shirou, thinking it was another earth attack tensed his legs to prepare for it only for it to be a false alarm as nothing appeared from the earth.

At least near him.

Suddenly a stream of water rose from Percy's feet and blasted him.

'I don't know whether to laugh or to-WAIT HE'S THE SON OF POSEIDON' realizing his mistake Shirou tried to rush to Percy yet it was too late as Percy was now fully energized.

In seconds Percy was next to him and planted his fist straight at his gut making him cough up blood and before Shirou could counterattack the demigod then grabbed his other arm and tossed him aside from the arena where he landed on the cold ground.

Percy in a smart maneuver, placed water all on the ground so he was constantly being reenergized. The water also allowed Percy to move at superhuman speeds which would be impossible to keep track of.

Luckily for him, he didn't need to track him.

"Trace On." Shirou chanted. He had a sword in mind that would do the trick.

The sword was a Large two-handed sword yet Shirou seemed to have no problem slinging over his back like it was as light as a hay bale. It was pure white with red lining the hilt and the protrusions of the sword.

The sword was _Clarent. The sword 'Arthur' used to sign in knights and a symbolized. Until it was later stolen by 'his' 'son' Mordred and after countless fell before the blade it became a demonic blade that feeds of rage and betrayal. Mordred channels red lightning into the sword making it an effective Anti-'Arthur'_

Shirou wasn't using it to rebel against the king but instead had a different idea in mind. He stabbed the sword into the water causing red lightning to spark and shock the entire ground. Percy cried in pain as the electricity fried his nerves.

"Worked like a charm," Shirou said with a small smirk of victory.

Percy didn't get back up.

Nobody was expecting him to have something like that in his arsenal and to be honest, Shirou didn't know either until he scanned his Reality Marble.

Percy to his once again stood except he was on one knee and still had the occasional spark across his body. Shirou knew he was still ready for combat so he readied himself again.

"Trace O-" and before Shirou could project the weapon he was thinking Zeus came down stopping him.

"I've seen enough boy and I have to say I'm impressed," Zeus admitted reluctantly. Shirou said nothing. He wasn't the type to brag so he just ignored the praise that was given.

With a snap of his fingers, Zeus and everyone in the gladiator arena was teleported back onto Olympus and still in the same spot they were before.

Even Thalia and Hazel-eyes were there on his left and right. They looked at him with newfound respect and fear?

"Since, you're so good at what you do I have an offer for you that you can't refuse." Shirou wondered if he meant literally when he said that.

"We will speak later though, for now, we shall feast!" Zeus announced to everyone and all the men cheered while the women sighed at the men. As if hearing that, his stomach growled.

"Want some cereal?" Demeter asked as everyone laughed and even Artemis chuckled.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at the dining hall in Olympus. Of course, the gods didn't walk they simply teleported there leaving the non-godly people to walk there.

While they walked Thalia and Hazel-eyed kept glancing towards him as if to ask a question but they never ended up asking.

When the pair of three entered the dining table, their eyes practically bulged out of their sockets at the sheer amount of food at the table.

The table itself was a lavish gold and it was covered with a red sheet. It also had more than enough seats to house more than thirty people that they began to feel underdressed. Shirou especially since he still looked like he went through a war-zone but nobody commented on it for obvious reasons.

Sitting down at the table he inspected everyone there and saw even more unfamiliar faces who he assumed were minor gods and demigods. Of course to his left and right were Thalia and Hazel-eyes respectively but across from them was Hephaestus and Athena. He had a feeling their placement was there by chance and was in fact carefully calculated.

Aphrodite was on the right of Athea, Ares was on the right of Hephaestus.

On the left of Aphrodite was Demeter, on the right of her was Hestia.

On Thalia's, left was Poidon himself and on the right of Hazel-eyes was Artemis. On Artemis' right was her brother Apollo.

The demigods were on the far end of the table and he could spot Percy in fresh clothing next to a blond-haired girl.

"Oh my gods!" a girly voice said which he turned to and saw Aphrodite pointing at him. "You can't come to such a formal dinner in _that' _pointing to his beaten up clothing.

"Luckily for you, I'm here" as she said that she snapped her fingers, and his clothing now changed. Instead of his casual clothing, he was now dressed in expensive black slacks, a white long-sleeved shirt that had gold cuffs on the wrist, and his hair was now slicked back not unlike Archer and he now had on formal black shoes. He couldn't lie that he liked how he looked. Somehow she made his half-white half-tan skin look nice. Even Artemis looked impressed.

She did the same to the two huntresses too starting off with Thalia replacing her silver clothing with a dazzling electric blue dress that looked amazing on her and blue high heels to match her outfit. Finally, she had earrings on. She looked at Aphrodite with a barely hidden scowl

Hazel-eyes had a completely different look and instead had a stylish brown shirt along with a white skirt that seemed a little _too_ short and she wasn't afraid to show it. Hazel-eyes, however, expression showed she wanted to be anywhere except here. She looked like how a Japanese highschool student would look like.

Before long the food had arrived and everyone was now eating. The men especially were eating like they haven't had a meal their entire life while the women politely ate with forks and knives. Shirou was also using a fork and knife which was very strange for him since he usually used chopsticks. After watching everyone else eat he was easily able to copy their movements as to not look strange.

What he had was simple chicken strips with a side of yellow rice something he's never had before.

_'Note to self: Start looking into American foods' _

Although he was absolutely starving he still ate like civilians simply because of manners. It was hard to do that as the food was so good though and he voiced it.

"This food is good. Compliments to the chef." All the other people at the table including Thalia and hazel-eyes nodded as well.

"Thank you, for the compliment," Hestia said smiling warmingly. He had a feeling it was her too only someone like her could possibly make something this delicious.

"So Shirou." a rough voice said and he turned towards the voice to see Hephaestus the god of the forge. "How many weapons do you have?" with that Hephaestus asked the question everyone wanted to know.

After all, it wasn't every day you defeated one of the strongest demigods around. Especially when you were an unknown.

"Hephaestus!" Hera scolded like she was speaking to a child "That's rude to ask at a dinner table"

He knew he had to answer as everyone was curious as to how an unknown escaped their watch for so long.

Everyone was curious.

Athena wanted to practically pick him apart and learn everything he knows which was understandable as she was the goddess of knowledge. It would be odd if she wasn't curious about magic not their own being used. She knew for sure it was not something Circe or Hecate taught or they would have told her about something like this by now. Even if they weren't the closest of friends and they usually secluded themselves from civilization.

Hephaestus, on the other hand, was practically having an aneurism at the thought of Shirou's weaponry. His ability to instantly summon swords on a whim greatly interested the blacksmith god. The weapon could switch between a halberd, scythe and axe mostly intrigued him. He never managed to figure out how to combine multiple weapons into one as they always had mistakes or didn't work at its full potential. Shirou's weapon, however, worked perfectly, and anytime he 'thrust' he noticed that it always broke through Percy's guard or when he swiped it stunned him. That spoke of power and precision he would definitely have to confront him.

Poseidon was outraged. He didn't like how this man who's a complete unknown beat his favorite son- rules be damned he would have his head for that. The man almost killed his son in cold blood with that attack. If he didn't have Curse of Achilles he would be dead! Luckily Apollo healed the sea god when the fight was over but that still angered him and he was protective over his son.

Artemis was confused, angry, happy? that Shirou won. She knew neither of them took it seriously however and if they did it would be a lot more destruction. She didn't know what to feel about him though as he was simply too much of a mystery. He arrived here apparently by accident and escaped right underneath their noses. If she was never in that forest at the correct time she might've never met him before. However, she was impressed with his skills nonetheless as he proved to be strong and confident and even pulled off smart strategies like using a shield to redirect his momentum. She would have to see more of him to form an opinion and she felt they would have more than one conversation.

Aphrodite was excited. The boy- no man in her eyes that just fought the boy named Percy was just perfect. He was a strong man and she could see how muscular he was with his roguish eyes that were amber-colored. He had the most unique eyes she has ever seen, and she could just feel the love he had for someone. She couldn't tell exactly who it was he had a love for, but it was very strong love although it was more of a platonic one then it was romantically. He tried to hide it yet he couldn't hide the fondness whenever he talked about home. He definitely had someone waiting for him back home and the thought of that made her squeal in delight. It was also an added bonus he looked absolutely _dashing _in that outfit.

Ares was impressed really. He didn't expect much from the squirt, but he went and kicked their hero black and blue. The weapons the 'wizard do-hickey' created they were simply amazing. They were weapons he has never seen before in his entire life which seemed to have a variety of abilities. His broadsword, in particular, interested him the most. It was a broadsword fitting a war god-like himself and he would have to ask if he could possibly have it. He didn't like however how Aphrodite is giving him the eyes. While he knew she cheats on him he cheats on her, but he still did get possessive whenever she did it in front of him and that usually caused her to squash the love interest she has. Hopefully, he won't have that problem with this Shirou boy here but if he did what's a couple of bones broken?

Hades was slightly curious about the boy. As the ruler of the underworld, he could tell when someone's lost a loved one before and the boy had it all over his face. What most impressed him was his skill in fighting and how he switched fighting styles like they were clothing. One second he was fighting like a skilled halberd user and the next he was an archer shooting from the distance. His impressive will to survive was what really impressed Hades however as he's seen very little have such a strong will.

Apollo was delighted to see the outcome of the battle. It showed Apollo just why his little sister took such a liking to a mortal, after all, she has never shown any interest in any men since that other son of Poseidon who he hates mentioning. He could see why she had her eye on him and if the boy was his son, he would be very proud of him as not a lot can beat Percy, one of their strongest. He also was a user of the bow easily more proficient then half of his demigod children. All his shots were carefully planned and were aimed to cripple. As the god of archery, he was impressed by it and he definitely was going to give the kid a few tips.

Hera was indifferent about all this. She didn't care too much for the boy. While his power and existence is both unique and interesting she wasn't too fixated on him and since he didn't produce this weapon Artemis spoke of that she thinks only the fool Heracles could wield it died down any interest she might have had in him and thus she decided to not give him the time of day. After all, why should she? She's got to keep her eyes on her husband as any second she turns around for one second he's in another woman's bed.

Hestia was extremely interested in the boy like Aphrodite. She could feel the love for his family he had, and it was just oozing from him. Whoever he had a bond with was the closest she has ever seen. Her dysfunctional family was nowhere near the level of Shirou and whoever it was he had a bond with. She was even slightly jealous which was a foreign emotion for her as she is always kind to everyone, and she knew it. But she was jealous of how much love he has for this special person as it trumps even her love for her family. But it also got her excited and she wanted to know more about it. She and he will get along she thinks.

Hermes didn't have an opinion on the Shirou dude. He voted yes for Shirou as the boy had such strong conviction in him he reminded Hermes of his failures which is his son Luke, the demigod that betrayed Camp Half-Blood and killed himself at the end of the battle to stop Kronos from rising. Hermes still loved his son and even though he couldn't show it because of ancient laws he did and Shirou had this fire in his eyes that reminded him so dearly of Luke it was driving him mad. He hoped whatever goal Shirou had for the future he obtained it.

Soon the cake arrived and that's when Zeus found the perfect opportunity to speak to Shirou.

"Today we are here to celebrate Shirou and his good performance against our hero Percy Jackson too celebrate this I am giving you this deal Shirou Emiya. Will you ascend to the heavens?"

Shirou dropped his piece of cake on his lap.

And Shirou was at a loss and so was everyone else.


	8. Chapter 8 Dining with the Gods

Aengus was not happy with what he sensed.

It started off as a normal day at first. He lived in the village Bru na Boinne, a village he tricked the owner Elcmar into giving by stating he requested the place for "A day and a night" which really meant all day and every day. The look on his father's face when he figured out he was fooled was priceless. He and father laughed "A day and a night"

However, his father, when he was out looking for his dream wife, sold all the land and gave it to his children besides himself and somehow Aeganus was able to fool even his father.

He liked to think he was a calm man at times, but he was currently on the verge of throwing something in his anger. He wore a white collared shirt, a few buttons opened, dress pants, and to top it, off some fancy black leather shoes. Since the world has grown a lot over the years he had decided he needed to 'get with the times' as the Dagda said to him once.

The Dagda once upon a time gave him eternal youth and now he would look like he was in his mid-twenties for years to come.

Surprisingly enough the Dagda was probably the most up to the time's god in the entire pantheon.

Anyways back to his point at hand his foster son Diarmuid Ua Duibhne's spears-originally, his spears were used somewhere in America. That was also where the Greek and Norse resided. He highly doubted it was the Norse though as they had enough spear that was even stronger than his.

Perhaps he should ask Diarmuid himself, maybe he had the answers to it? He had the ability to breathe life into a dead person and temporarily bring them back to life. He often spoke to Diarmuid about his regrets in life like Grainne, betraying his country, and other trivial things. He even kept Diarmuid informed about what era and was.

Unlike his son, he didn't have love problems and his beautiful wife of dreams Cáer Ibormeith was kind as she was strong. She could pack a killer right hook and he experienced that first hand.

He didn't want to worry his son with it and decided to simply check himself as he could simply be imagining things.

His vault was actually in his house underneath the bookshelf. He found the idea from various movies he's seen but unlike in the movies, the vault is armed with thousands of mystical enchantments, curses, and booby traps.

There was also a notice-me-not spell which he totally made up which meant even if you did stumble upon it by accident you would have your attention drawn away.

After passing through recognition it opened and all his life's treasure was revealed.

It was full to the brim with gold everything. Chalices, swords, coins, and even just solid gold. As an immortal, he's had entire lifetimes to collect items and store it in the vault. After walking through various treasure hills he found a platform. The area was even more secure than the other place with actual automatons guarding it which would shoot enchanted bullets should anyone not the owner enter.

'Maybe I should up the security.'

He crossed his fingers and opened up the case and it revealed... the two spears perfectly intact with no signs of robbery.

"Just in case though, I should send some people over to inspect."

Before he could muse any further an angry voice called out to him.

"AENGUS GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!" the person in mention looked frightened.

"COMING MA'AM"

As beautiful as she was also very scary

What he didn't notice, however, in his haste was that Gae Dearg, the Cursed Demonic spear glowed faintly as he left the room.

* * *

Shirou dropped his long-forgotten cake when he heard the statement. That was the last thing he expected to hear from Zeus.

He couldn't deny he thought of godhood for a second. Him in a fancy throne with thousands of servants.

At least until that thought was beaten up, tortured, and then thrown in the trash. He knew what they were doing. He wasn't dumb. If he became a god then he would have to stay in Olympus and Zeus could control him however he pleases.

But there was a slight possibility that he would get a domain that allowed him to transverse dimension; however rare it maybe this might be his only chance to get home. He already searched through his entire Reality Marble for hours on end yet none of his weapons allowed him to transverse dimensions or he would be long gone by now.

So he was left with an impossible ultimatum. Either deny it and possibly be stuck in this world alone forever or become a god and hope he got a domain that allowed him to get back home.

Just when he was about to say yes, he thought of something.

'Why do I need to get home? I have nothing anymore even if I did get home I would just be living a life of misery.'

With his mind made up, he spoke his decision

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to decline"

All the gods look dumbfounded at that rejection, he was the second human to reject godhood.

Even the demigods at the very far end of the table looked dumbfounded at his rejection. Becoming a god is usually a once in a lifetime offer. Yet he denied it as simple as you would dessert.

Herakles had to complete entire labors to ascend to the heavens and even then had to deal with the wrath of Hera while he did nothing of the sort.

Zeus in particular looked offended but tried not to show it. His fork was long ago broken from his anger and Hera placed a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Why is that then," Zeus asked with barely restrained anger.

He didn't understand why so many people denied godhood. This was their chance to ascend to the heavens! and become so powerful that their normal mortal limitations are broken and even surpassed.

"Honestly, I thought about it for a second before I realized I have nothing to get back to, right now," Shirou said oblivious to the king's rising anger.

"That's...fine" Zeus spoke in a tone that was neutral. Nobody believed him. "You have a place to stay do you not?"

"Yes, I'm staying at a house called Aunty Em's Emporium" when he said that Percy, Annabeth, and a hairy man with goat legs choked on their food.

Shirou looked at them confused at their sputtering. Percy recovered first and asked

"Have you... seen anything strange in that house?"

Shirou thought of it for a second. He did see all those stone statues at the porch but chalked that up to the family being a master craftsman.

When he told them that they explained to him that Medusa herself apparently was there once upon a time and they foiled her.

Shirou didn't know how to react to hearing that. The statues were actually real people? The children, women who were frightened were actual people who died for no reason? Shirou felt a wave of anger flood in at that and gripped his fingers so hard they turned white.

They ate in silence after that, neither not knowing what to say to the other and he received some concerned glances from the other gods.

Nobody wanted to ask him any further questions which was good for him since he didn't want to explain his Reality Marble. That was another can of worms he didn't want to open for as long as possible.

"Shirou," a rough metallic voice said and Shirou turned to the side to see a hideous man in blacksmiths attire, who was chowing down a big chicken leg. It was Hephaestus, the god of Blacksmiths, Fire, forgery, and sculptures. He figured he would be the most interested in him as he used swords and a blacksmith forges them.

"Can you enlighten me, the god of blacksmiths, how you achieved six weapons in one? I have been trying for centuries yet I still cannot figure it out." Hephaestus looked like he was going to explode the entire time they were at the dinner table. He must have been waiting to ask the question for a long time but held on.

Shirou couldn't blame him though, Even he was amazed at God Force. It was an A-rank weapon that he spotted in Angelica's gates of Babylon but only now got the chance to test it. He obviously wouldn't tell the god that as it would only raise more questions but he answered as straightforward as possible. It would really come in handy when fighting Angelica since he would save much more prana then before.

"It's actually a Chinese weapon that was given to me by a...friend" Hephaestus queried an eyebrow at that he didn't think it was made by the people in Asia or else he would have heard of such a thing.

It was a half-truth that he hoped Apollo wouldn't spot. It was in fact a Chinese weapon made by Chen Gong who was also a servant. What he was lying about was the fact that he and Angelica were not friends as she was his last obstacle that stood in the way.

"Well, since you have such great taste in weapons how would you like to work for me and become my blacksmith attendant? I will even pay you whatever currency you wish" Hephaestus offered while everyone was shocked that the normally exclusive god was asking a human of all things to work in his forge. Anyone who knew Hephaestus knew that he didn't like anyone who wasn't an automaton to touch his forge which was the main shock of everyone.

Plus his smelting forge was inside a volcano so it was as hot as Hades in there.

Shirou's thoughts strayed when he heard of the offer. It was all in all a good offer and he would get paid plus he could probably quit whenever he felt like it unlike if he was a god where it was relatively permanent.

Seeing no reason to not refuse it he accepted much to everyone's shock especially Zeus. He was especially angry. It made no sense to him for Shirou to deny an offer to become a god yet instantly jump on the chance to become a servant. The King just couldn't accept it.

"Great, I'll take you down there after this," Hephaestus happily said as his beard lit on fire something that happened when experiencing heavy emotions like joy and anger.

* * *

In no time at all the dinner was done and everyone was now leaving to go back to their respective places. Hephaestus and Shirou stood out on the balcony of Mount Olympus watching New York from up high. Shirou's skill hawkeye allowed him to see far distances so he could easily see what was down there.

Both of them sat there in silence.

At least until Hephaestus pulled out a bag of hot Cheetos and began munching on them completely ignoring the fact that they just finished dinner not even thirty minutes ago. Shirou watched in slight disgust as the man chewed so loud he felt like he almost had to leave and maybe find the hunters and Percy and simply stay with them.

Speaking of the hunters he had one last confrontation with them before he came out to the balcony with the god.

* * *

With dinner now ending and Shirou freed, the hunters had no more need to stay close to him.

Shirou couldn't lie; he felt brief sadness at that and actually enjoyed their company a little. So he was surprised when walking through the halls he ran into the both of them.

They sat there in comfortable silence now that they had no more reason to hate him.

"You know b-Shirou you're not so bad," Hazel-eyes said to him as Thalia nodded.

'Ditto, huntresses. Ditto.'

"I still don't know your name do you mind telling me"

"It's Medb" Shirou found that to be a pretty name. Certainly different from other name's he's heard but nice.

"But let me give you a warning. Mention what happened on that chariot and you're dead!" Thalia said to him red-faced. Shirou held out his arms in mock surrender.

"Okay, okay, I won't mention it to anyone" the girls sighed in relief.

Before he was about to go to meet Hephaestus they actually hugged him which surprised him and before he could return it they ran off.

'Strange girls'

* * *

"Alright now that I finished my snack," Hephaestus said, licking his fingers off the Cheeto stains. Hephaestus then reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote control and with a push of a button, a spaceship? appeared from seemingly thin air.

The spaceship looked like the one you would see aliens riding in cartoons and with another click of the button it opened up and a platform fell down allowing the two to enter. When Shirou entered he was amazed at just what he was seeing. The place looked very homey and had in-home kitchen appliances and even a living room.

"You can sit down on the couch until we arrive at my 'house'" Shirou nodded and sat down while Hephaestus pushed buttons rapidly and the door closed and they were now riding into the air.

Once again Shirou was reminded of the chariot ride with the horses because as soon as they started flying at high speeds he fell off the couch and landed face-first onto the floor. He almost considered stabbing swords into the ground to keep his balance.

Hephaestus somehow was having no such problems and easily stayed on his feet.

"Can we.." Shirou didn't get to finish as he went completely flying up onto the roof before hitting the ceiling.

After grueling hours of torture, they arrived at a volcano of all things.

'Why are we at a volcano?'

Their ship flew inside the volcano which made the magus question the gods' sanity until he saw no lava inside the volcano and instead just black charcoal.

When the door opened and the platform was extended he was happy to be out of the deadly spaceship and onto solid ground. But as soon as he hit the floor his feet felt like they were on fire!

The volcano even without any lava was hot and Shirou could feel sweat dripping from his hair. He considered using a Noble Phantasm simply to keep himself warm.

There was a huge furnace and it was boiling hot and he made a note to put cooling runes on his clothing later as the heat was almost unbearable but the smith god didn't seem to have any trouble standing next to it, in fact, he looked more comfortable here then he did with the rest of his family as he sat down.

He saw a shiny black anvil that looked untouched. he would have believed it too till he saw a shiny sword which was made of bronze on top of the anvil. It was made of the material Celestial Bronze which was also used to make Riptide. As he admired the room Hephaestus just looked amused at him watching him look around the room and at his collection. The blacksmithing god felt a small pang of pride at someone admiring his work and especially someone who creates swords. He interrupted the kid from his admiring when he said.

"Since you're now my worker I have a few items for you" Hephaestus snapped his fingers and clothing appeared to be his size with the shirt being a white tunic that had some weird letters on the shoulder and some standard khaki's along with sandals.

"These clothes are enchanted so you don't feel the heat as badly as before. I recommend putting them on as soon as you get to your room"

Shirou nodded and thanked the man and the man just waved it off as he called some automatons over and they guided him to his room. The room was so big he didn't believe this was his room. It was as big as a large living room equipped with a bed with black sheets and white pillows. On the counter was three thousand dollars and he had a large closet on his left. The room had it's own A.C which he could adjust whenever he wanted and finally the most useful thing.

Voice Commands.

Yes you heard the magus right, he could voice any command he had like "turn off the lights" and it would turn off. "Play music and it would play"

Shirou for once in his life simply felt... comfortable.

Zeus POV

Zeus was downright furious at the boy's denial of his offer and his acceptance of his son Hephaestus offer. When all the guests left he finally showed the anger that he hid from everyone else.

His plan was simple, bind this boy to Olympus the easiest way possible without it being too much of a hassle. It would make Olympus way more powerful and possibly even rival the Hindu Pantheon. The greek Patheon while powerful was nowhere near Hindu, Norse, or even Celtic level. Shirou was their key to bridging that gap.

So he had a plan he didn't want to use but if he wanted to gain the power necessary would have to.

Have Shirou Emiya, marry his daughter Artemis.

**A/N: Now I'm not proficient in Celtic Mythology ya'll so bare with me here. **


	9. Chapter 9 Everyone's lost their heads

Shirou was starting his first day of his blacksmithing duties and honestly, he was enjoying it. He was by no means an expert blacksmith, but he still did enjoy making things. It was sort of monotone what he did but that was no issue for him as his life at school was also monotone at times.

It was the same thing.

Heat the steel, hold the steel carefully, shape it correctly and wait till it cools off then shape it as a sword.

Maybe it had to do with what his origin and element was. Which was sword and as such he should enjoy things like this which he did.

He wanted something though, something he didn't think he would ever truly want. And that was a fight. He was settling in nice, getting along with the automatons well enough and even saw one of Hephaestus's wife around here and it was a pleasant conversation.

But he just wasn't satisfied with how boring it was.

So, he decided that he should ask Hephaestus for something interesting to do.

After making his way through a bunch of corridors, he went to the main forge which was easily the biggest as it reached the ceiling and as Shirou predicted Hephaestus was sitting their smelting weapons.

"Do you have any quests or anything you need me to do?" questioned Shirou and Hephaestus quirked an eyebrow. He didn't expect Shirou to want to actively go out and fight things, but he answered his question.

"That's an… odd request" Hephaestus started "There has been reports of a headless man with a horse riding around New York but those are only rumors that have been told." Shirou was curious about that. That sounded like something off a horror movie for someone headless to be running around here with a horse.

"Where have they been sighted?" Shirou asked and Hephaestus got up and snapped his fingers as a bunch of neatly organized papers were put in his hands, he handed them to Shirou, and he took them gratefully.

The paper showed indeed a shadow of a man out there that was riding a horse, but the horse had flaming eyes which obviously meant it wasn't a normal horse. Maybe a familiar? Perhaps as the man held an axe that Shirou couldn't analyze as this was only a picture and the lighting was bad. He couldn't make out much more details about the figure besides that.

"There has also been sighting of people dying whenever he is near and that is starting to turn into a problem as he could very well reveal the supernatural to the world turning it into chaos." Hephaestus revealed grimly as his eyes were filled with anger. Shirou couldn't blame him though because as soon as he realized that he killed innocent people he resolved to kill the man with extreme prejudice.

"He was last sighted in Graham Forest last night. If you want to back down now is the time." Hephaestus asked one more time. He wouldn't hold a grudge if the kid decided to drop out. Though he had full confidence as Shirou has proved himself a powerful person that would have beaten Percy.

That honestly scared the gods the most as they were supposed to be in control of everything and when they can't control others fate, they start panicking. It didn't really scare Hephaestus though as he knew Shirou was a good guy with a good head on his shoulders. The boy hid a lot of his pain, but it was easy for one such as him to tell that he was still a good man.

Hephaestus put a hand on Shirou's shoulder and said to him "I will now send you to Graham Forest for you to defeat and if possible bring back this person that's killing our people" Shirou nodded confidently as he had full confidence he could do this, Hephaestus sent a salute and next thing Shirou knew he was gone.

When Shirou left Hephaestus sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"That kid will do something big one day I know it"

Wait didn't he forget something.

Shirou POV

Shirou was falling from the sky.

He didn't know why Hephaestus decided to put him in the sky but decided against cursing him for now.

After all he was rapidly falling to his death and if he didn't do something he would die or at the very least, it would be painful. Shirou calmed his heartbeat and traced a parachute which he quickly strapped to his back and he sighed in relief. At times like this he was glad about his more mundane uses of tracing as he could trace things like this easily.

He landed on the ground gracefully and dismissed his projected parachute to the ether. When he looked around, he saw it was once again night and he could barely see his hands. Shirou decided to use his creativity and found a stick which he placed a fire rune on thus igniting the stick turning it into a torch.

He could see a lot better now that he had this torch and made his way through the forest encountering a few deer that he could have sworn were following him but put it out of his mind as he knew deer weren't intelligent animals.

All of a sudden, he heard a sound.

CRACK

'_Someone's here!' _Shirou thought to himself as he looked around for any signs of the person making the noise. As soon as he was about to write it off as a deer an axe suddenly cleaved its way through the air heading at servant speed which Shirou quickly rolled over by a hair's breadth.

"What is it we have here huh?" the voice questioned. Shirou saw that it was a man who spoke to him. A deep monotone voice that sounded cold and uncaring. Finally, a person emerged from the darkness and into a view and Shirou couldn't keep the surprise off his face. The man was headless, which was the main thing. Had a black shirt on with the shirt collar left open and he could make out an ordinary white shirt under it. It was long sleeved but rolled up to his elbows and his hands had blood on it like he killed someone recently.

It was the horse though that scared him the most.

The horse had an armored helmet on it and had eyes that were literally on fire. Not the Hestia fire though, as the fire in the horse's eyes held only fury which he didn't know who it was for. Though if he had to guess it was him. The horse was as dark as night and he could barely see the horse even though he had a torch pointed right towards him.

"Would you perhaps be Sheyroe Emeya " Shirou noticed how he spelled his name wrong but didn't comment on it. The man was not disturbed by his silence in the slightest and continued

"Well He has hired me to come slay your head. He even let me keep your head so I can add it to my collection!" The man cackled to himself but Shirou didn't know how he was laughing as he had no tongue, mouth or anything to resemble something to speak from. While Shirou was lost in his own thoughts the headless man decided to take advantage of this situation and grabbed his axe which he discarded and charged.

Shirou regained focus and saw that the horse was surprisingly fast and was already only 2 feet away from him. Shirou put down his torch and projected his favorite swords Kanshou and Bakuya and met the headless man on the horse. The man was surprisingly strong as he was easily getting pushed back into a tree easily as the horse lost no momentum. Soon enough, he went headfirst into a tree which stunned him and as he regained focus, he saw the axe was next coming. He ducked the overhead axe and threw the black blade Kanshou at the horseman who dodged the attack and continued forward.

WHOOSH

The black blade came around, and the headless horseman quickly realized his mistake. With a move that surprised Shirou as the horse did a backflip of all things over Kanshou which should have been extremely impossible for a horse to manage. The horse landed in a crouch and got up.

"Nice try kid I wasn't expecting that" The headless man said honestly "I haven't had anyone give me and the horse some trouble in quite a while"

Shirou wasn't flattered though as he quickly assessed the situation. The horse must be supernatural of some type and is fast enough to dodge an attack from Kanshou which normally brings opponents off guard. He focused on the axe now that he had enough time and found that it was an axe that has seen much blood. Usually used to cut off heads it belongs to a certain headless man and his name is Dullahan the Irish Headless Horseman. The axe has a special ability to catch on fire and works best on saints.

Luckily for Shirou he wasn't a saint but decided not to look down on the weapon that almost took his life not wanting to die an early death after all. He didn't have any more time for thinking though as the man showed off the axe's ability and it caught on fire. He could feel the heat from where he stood as it lit up the forest for miles. The man came again at him like a jouster ready to defeat his opponent and Shirou kept ducking swiping and parrying all the attacks the duo sent at him.

When the axe came this time, he decided to pull off a different strategy. He let the axe slide harmlessly away from him and put his foot on it effectively trapping it and threw Bakuya at his heart where he expected it to cleave right through but instead, he was brought in for another surprise.

The horse which he thought would sit there and let its master do the work swerved his way towards Bakuya and grabbed it with his teeth.

This completely shocked Shirou.

A horse of all things caught his C ranked Noble Phantasm with its teeth. Mentally Shirou brought up its danger levels a couple notches. The horse then in a blur of speed horse kicked Shirou full in the chest.

And it hurt. BAD

Shirou was sent flying through at least 7 trees as he could see stars in his eyes. He knew he cracked at least 4 ribs from that attack. Coughing blood out he could barely stand from the pain. This felt like nothing he has ever experienced before even while fighting Angelica as she just sent swords at him and he just sent that directly back.

Shirou had no choice, he had to pull out the weapon he didn't want to use.

"Trace On"

He traced Avalon.

The sheath used by King Arthur that healed 'him' from all wounds and gave him immortality. It was a beautiful sheath with it lined with gold and blue lines and had fay markings all over it. The weapon was beautiful for everyone who saw it as even the headless man paused to look at the beautiful sheath.

He implanted it in him and suddenly he felt a lot better and more energized than ever before. Without noticing it, he was glowing with an aura as the powerful object recognized the second owner of the sheath Shirou Emiya.

Ready for battle Shirou traced his blades again and in a blur of speed Shirou charged at the headless man and was prepared to rip him to shreds. Dullahan was ready too though and got off the horse to meet with him and vanished in a blur of speed too and they clashed.

Sparks flew everywhere as flaming axe met the two crossed blades Kanshou and Bakuya and Shirou this time was gaining the upper hand as he was pushing the man back. Dullahan kicked at Shirou who dematerialized his blades grabbed his leg and started swinging him around fast enough that even though he didn't have a head started to get dizzy. Then Shirou threw him.

**I Am the Bone Of My Sword. **

"I'll blow you away" Shirou proclaimed

****He traced his trademark bow and summoned the sword _Hrunting _the sword that all monsters fear. He knocked it on the bow and with a quick alteration it fit on the bow perfectly like an arrow and Shirou released the bow and the arrow shot at supersonic speeds and shot at the target instantly destroying him.

Shirou felt tiredness wash over him like a wave and caught his breath. The throwing of a man who was your size even reinforced made his muscles ache in tension. He has never done something so unorthodox.

Shirou, so focused on the battle he forgot to keep his eye on the horse that forced him to use Avalon. When he turned around to check on the deadly horse it was gone. Shirou was unnerved at that as he registered the horse as dangerous as the man he just killed. Shirou could sense the presence of another person and got ready to trace blades from his Reality Marble. Only for him to let down his guard when he realized that it was the man, he was currently working for the god Hephaestus.

"Well done my boy I didn't expect you to finish... So fast" Hephaestus said awkwardly. He didn't know what to say with what he just saw as a man not even 20 just did something he thought no mortal should be able to do. He was starting to get the feeling that maybe the gods did mean something when they said he could threaten all of them with that power. He was most interested though at the sheath. It was the most beautiful thing he has ever laid his eyes on and he has seen a lot from different cultures.

How could the boy ever produce such a powerful sheath? He had no idea, but he was going to touch that sheath eventually. Any blacksmiths worth their forge could tell that it was simply not made by mortal hands and with his enhanced eyes he could easily tell that it had markings on it that he was not familiar with. He sensed another presence nearby that he almost didn't notice. He was most likely a comrade of the Headless man and decided not to intervene for some reason.

The bow too was something he was curious about as he has never seen such a massive bow that was built around the Japanese style. He clearly placed swords in the string of the bow then used some sort of magic to make it shorter so that it fits perfectly. The fact that it left not even ashes was a testimony to its power as he could tell Shirou's opponent apparently from Ireland if what Shirou said was true was a legendary figure shown to be only a myth.

That brought about the next question that confused the blacksmith god.

Why was someone from Ireland over here in New York of all things? The Celtic haven't interacted with the Greeks in centuries as they never had any reason too and only met when it concerned some demigods. Dullahan did say that he was here to kill Shirou as "He" sent him here.

But that also confused him as the boy just got here so what kind of trouble could he have brewed up with the Celts? He would have to ask him later he mused to himself.

Before coming back to reality to see Shirou patiently standing there waiting for him to cease his silent thinking. Hephaestus blushed at that as he realized he was thinking to himself while Shirou was just staring at him awkwardly wondering what he could be thinking about. Clearing his throat Hephaestus said

"Let's go home" Hephaestus meant to say it as an order, but it came out more as a question and he cursed himself for sounding so scared of the mortal in front of him.

"O-kay '' Shirou said slowly and put a hand on the god's shoulder and they teleported away, this time with Shirou learning how to control the dizziness which honestly surprised him as he shouldn't have gotten used to things like that so fast. They landed in the main smeltery area and Shirou was honestly happy to be home now after what took somehow hours to complete felt like centuries. Shirou said goodnight to the smelting god who only grunted goodbye and headed to bed. After crashing onto bed, he looked up at the ceiling in thought as he was almost killed in that battle and had to reveal his ultimate healing item to anyone watching. But he knew in the end, he knew if he didn't do it, then his muscles would have torn, and he would be in a rough situation.

Shirou closed his eyes and slept the night away.

At night Shirou dreamed of not swords but darkness covering up the sun.

Artemis POV

Artemis didn't know how to feel about the boy called Shirou Emiya.

All she really knew about him was that he was an extremely powerful man and used magic which she still didn't fully grasp. But then again, she was never into magic as she loved to hunt old school rather then sit back and shoot fireballs at an opponent. She has never fought a wizard or magus as he called himself as nobody would be foolish enough to attack her especially not a wizard from Circe's island.

What Shirou showed though honestly rose the respect she had for him. He seemed to be able to summon bows and used swords of all things with a bow which is something she's never seen. She was inwardly glad that he had an appreciation for something such as archery as not a lot really got into it fully besides her nephew's- Apollo's sons.

The bow was unlike anything she's seen though and could tell that it was hand crafted and made for the exact purpose of shooting swords on it. She had no idea exactly how he could shoot swords and why he prefers that over normal arrows, but she now had some idea.

They were simply extremely effective.

The sword in specific is one she recognized as the sword of Beowulf _Hrunting _she wrote it off as myths and fairy tales, but this apparently confirmed it as the environment changed and all the animals ran away even her sacred deer. She would need to ask him next time she confronted him about it and where he obtained it from as it interested her as well as the beautiful sheath he has in his possession. But for now, she could wait.

She had to get back to the hunters after all.

Unknown POV

"He is in this city somewhere." a voice spoke as he stepped out of the dark light. He was a man with dark hair and had it spikey, he had eyes that were empty and looked like he hasn't slept in years with and to top it off, a Homahura school outfit on that he seemed to prefer wearing. Next to him a blond woman stood with cold emotionless eyes that showed no mercy to anyone.

"Faker."

**A/NYEAHH YALL SAW HOW LONG THIS WAS? WELP YEAH. I decided I want another chapter for you guys since you guys keep showing support. Thanks for the luv guys. **

**RAMBLE**

**Well I was thinking about making a Naruto x Percy Jackson fanfic where it's basically A Father's love but with different Goddesses and ya know Naruto gonna teach his kids some ninja tricks. It's just an idea though leave it down in the reviews if I should and which two goddesses I should pick. Yes I said two I want two of them but I want to see what yall have to say about this. Anyways did yall know that the moonlit world isn't canon and that it's fanon? I had no idea lol I'm glad I never put that as people would be jumping on me for that. Anyways that's enough rambling until next time**

**Peace.**


	10. Chapter 10 Unexpected Circumstances

The sound of swords meeting metal resounded across the room.

One would only be needed inside the room to see what was happening.

Shirou was currently fighting automatons in the training room Hephaestus made specifically for him as gods have no need to train.

Shirou could set the difficulty from: easy, normal, hard, extremely hard, insane, impossible, and then god tier. While the 'god-tier' was obviously not true it was no less threatening.

And Shirou had it on extremely hard.

The automatons were equipped with jet packs, guns, horses, machine guns, and other items you would find in a war.

But the magus was easily cleaving through them in the thousands.

An automaton in samurai's clothing behind him spun his hands which suddenly turned into a machine gun and fired multiple shots at him, turning him into Swiss cheese.

Or at least that _would _have happened

Shirou's _Eye of the Mind _(true) kicked in, letting him react in time and dodge all of the shots, all until the robot ran out of ammo.

The automaton realized this too and turned his hands into a sword this time. The two clashed and the only thing one could hear was the sound of sword against sword.

Surprisingly, the automaton was very capable and even reacted to most of his attacks appropriately.

The two then met at a stalemate once again with neither gaining the ground against the other. At least until Shirou used his free hand and traced another nameless sword and swiftly cut off the automatons head.

He had no time for a break though, as fifty more now filed in but this time they were experienced in the Iado stance which was holding your sword in the sheath until your opponent got close.

Shirou seeing this. traced his own katana and sheath and started rushing towards them with prana enhanced speed and easily ran through them.

He finished it off by sheathing his sword causing all of the automatons to fall to the ground like in the movies

It was a lot harder than Shirou thought it would be.

You would expect one to simply start cutting then sheathe your sword, but it actually worked on power, speed and precision not just dumb luck.

Technically the sword he traced, the user of it knew the Iado stance so he _did _cheat, but he still had to work for it and his body strained moving at such speeds.

One of the things he was trying to increase was his strength and speed. He was near peak human condition when it came to strength and speed, but that wouldn't be enough against the supernatural or even the demigods who had greater speed and power and could rely on their heritage in a fight.

Shirou however, only had his tracing to rely on and even then, he had more limits then they did and more restrictions.

He knew he would never be able to beat a god without tracing that was just simple facts at this point but it didn't mean he couldn't use other methods to beat them like god-slaying swords, spears and bows.

'_I do have a lot of weapons'_ Shirou noted as he wiped away his sweat with a rag.

Before he could take another breather, another automaton was created but this one was different. It was a large spider-like automaton and was all black and seemed to be made of a different type of metal that was not Celestial Bronze.

Shirou wasn't discouraged however, and instead got up and traced two mundane swords and readied his stance.

* * *

The bot now laid on the floor completely shredded from Shirou's merciless attacks while Shirou stood tall as he reassessed what he's been doing these past days.

It's been two days since the incident with the headless horseman and he was determined to get stronger both physically and mentally.

He not only discovered new ways to use his tracing, but he also got a new influx of memories from Archer that didn't transfer over before and now he felt thousand more Noble Phantasms enter his Reality Marble.

Speaking of Reality Marble, he felt the snowy world grow a large hill for some reason and yet no swords were up there. Also, the snowy blizzard that it used to be was now starting to clear up revealing _grass _of all things.

He didn't know what that meant but he assumed that was good for reasons unknown.

Speaking of weapons, he had to return the Armor of Achilles to its respective place in the vault. It was too risky to wear for other missions since gods randomly tend to appear in the forges demanding weapons and armor crafted for their demigods or themselves.

He had questioned Hephaestus on the matter of the killings of the headless horseman, but Hephaestus knew no more than he did but promised to notify him should anything new appear.

While he idly finished off the last of the automatons, a friendly automaton approached him. He felt kind of bad having slain its fellow people right in front of its face.

"**Subject: _BEEP _Shirou, Emiya. Hephaestus wants to speak with you. _BEEP._**" the automaton spoke in a warbly voice. Shirou understood him and he dematerialized his swords and followed the automaton out the door.

_'Speak of the devil and he will appear. Or Automaton.'_ Shirou said to himself.

He would never admit this, but he still didn't know how to navigate through the building.

When they arrived at the smeltery Shirou expected to see many things.

Firstly, he expected to see Hephaestus working on the smeltery while he had him watch. Or even better, he expected the man to request him to do another mission, something he would gladly do.

What Shirou didn't expect to see was the goddess Artemis herself, sitting there on a chair with her feet kicked back like she owned the place. Hephaestus didn't seem to like it either as he gave her a nasty look which she pointedly ignored.

"Boy, Hunting trip. Now." Artemis ordered.

Shirou didn't know _why _she was suddenly interested in going camping with him and he didn't know if he even had a choice.

"Now, it's up to Shirou to decide whether or not he wants to go or not, and if he doesn't then, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, _sister_," Hephaestus said venomously, seeing Shirou's reluctance. The god had grown fond of the magus and didn't want him doing something he didn't feel comfortable doing.

Shirou was stunned by his kindness. He had always thought that gods were selfish and would only care about power, but Hephaestus proved him wrong. Even if he _had _known the god wasn't like his parents, Zeus and Hera he didn't expect him to be this protective.

However, Shirou knew that Artemis would not budge and there would be a big fight if he didn't go.

'_Besides, how bad could it possibly be?'_

With the benefit of hindsight, Shirou might have reconsidered but he spoke. "I'll go Lady Artemis."

She turned to Shirou with a little smile on her face, but she hid it quickly, leaving Shirou to question whether he had seen it at all. Hephaestus, on the other hand, was sharper and had caught the expression of the Goddess.

He chose to not comment on it.

"Alright..., "she paused. "Are you ready right now, boy?" she questioned him

Shirou went over and thought about it. He couldn't bring the armor with her here and his swords he can just easily trace so he nodded.

She put a soft hand on his shoulder and told him to look away which he did and in a bright flash of light, he could tell she had transformed. Hephaestus warned him not to look at a god's divine form or he would be incinerated so he looked away. Although he could see a strand of long silver hair from across his eye.

Then in flash, he could see they were now gone and now in the wilds.

When he opened his eyes, he found that he was now in a forest just like he was the other night, but he had confidence that she would guide him to whatever it was they were "hunting"

It was also dark outside which meant they were going in blindly, or he was going in blindly because he doubted, she had any trouble navigating through the forest. His Eye of the Mind was truly the only thing that stopped him crashing into branches, rocks and other items around the forest.

After a while he finally asked the question he's been wondering for quite a while.

"What are we out here?"

"We are hunting... a giant," she said, stopping and crossing her arms before explaining. "It was spotted somewhere in this forest causing chaos and scaring a bunch of nymphs."

He never encountered nymphs before but heard about them from Hermes. Apparently, they were more like spirits and there were different kinds of nymphs. He also said they were hot and many gods sometimes took them as their wives.

He then went on to offer one of them to him which he immediately denied but not without blushing a little.

Back to the main point, with the giants he recalled a time he questioned about them.

* * *

_The two were on top of the volcano and the god was idly playing with one of Shirou's weapons like a kid. _

_It was: Gáe Dearg: Crimson Rose of Exorcism. _

_A spear that cancels any magic that touches the tip. Shirou had a feeling he shouldn't have traced the weapon, but the man asked if he had a weapon that could render magic useless._

_While the man was toying with it Shirou decided to strike up a conversation with the god. "I've heard about giants from Hermes, what exactly are they?"_

_Hermes let it slip once about giants when they conversed and ever since then Shirou's been wanting to know about it._

_Hephaestus' face darkened and his beard suddenly caught on fire. "The giants...are the bane to us gods. They are the ultimate threat to us Olympians that were eliminated a year ago by a group of demigods."_

_Shirou wondered if Percy was one of them. He certainly seemed strong enough to do it._

_"How did you guys eliminate it then?" Hephaestus gave him a side look as he twirled the spear around and pointed it at Shirou._

_"Giants can only be defeated when a demigod or a human works with a god. All giants are the bane of one of us gods which means they are stronger against us than any other god." He then stared at Shirou dead in the eye "My bane is the giant Mimas who can disable any electronics I have."_

_Shirou then understood why they were so dangerous. But it left the question of who created the giants in the first place and for what purpose. But he had a feeling he wouldn't answer that._

_"How did you defeat him?" _

_Hephaestus then chuckled before saying_

_"Well I dumped a large bucket of molten iron on him." the god said before muttering "I used up almost all of it too."_

_"Well, Storytime's over now let's get back to work."_

_They both stood up and took the long spiral staircase back down._

_Shirou then remembered something: "Are you going to return my spear?" _

_Hephaestus stared at him seriously before laughing. "NOPE!" and started running. Shirou rolled his eyes and chased after him._

* * *

**SNAP!**

Shirou was broken from his thoughts when Artemis impatiently snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"First rule of the hunt. You always stay focused or else the hunter will be the prey."

Shirou nodded as the two navigated through the forest. "Why are we hunting at night?"

Artemis looked at him as if he had just asked why the moon was silver, but she answered anyway. "At night, when the moon rises, I'm one of the strongest Olympians." she boasted. "And just in case the enemy may be stronger than I thought I can easily draw on the moon for power!"

Shirou nodded. It made sense.

"How good are you with the bow?" Artemis suddenly asked him. Shirou didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't want to sound cocky. Personally, he had never truly missed a shot whenever he was serious.

"Err-I mean I'm pretty okay. I was in an archery club in high school. I always had a knack for archery." he responded awkwardly.

Artemis, however, wasn't convinced and wanted to see for herself as she saw him use a bow two days ago. She snapped her fingers and a target appeared a little way away, almost 50 yards

"Shoot this target" Artemis ordered and Shirou obeyed

"Trace on" Shirou chanted.

His iconic large black bow appeared in his hand in a flash of particles. He notched a normal arrow this time, he didn't want to destroy the target.

The magus aimed the bow and went through his normal motions

Breath.

Focus only on the target and only the target.

Then release.

It was a bullseye.

Artemis was impressed. She had seen that his stance was perfect, she couldn't find a thing to correct him on. He was better with the bow than most of her hunters. She had seen that Shirou didn't seem to be trying and she had a feeling that he could have done better but she didn't voice her thoughts.

"You're not half-bad at it, boy," she forced out. She said before her voice took a teasing edge to it. "If you were a woman, I would invite you to my group wholeheartedly"

Shirou felt uncomfortable. "Uhm...thanks?" he said slowly.

They two then spent the rest of the time in uncomfortable silence as they went on through the forest. Neither had let down their guard as Shirou had the blueprints of Kanshou and Bakuya in his mind while Artemis had her bow ready to instantly be drawn.

Shirou realized that they made a pretty good team. They both complement each other really well. They could both switch between close-range and long-range easily and were good at both.

Although Shirou wasn't cocky enough to believe he was stronger than the goddess and even though he hadn't seen her full power, even while she was fighting halfheartedly in the alley, he was still having a lot of trouble keeping up. If she simply went into her divine form it would have easily been over.

That had him thinking, if Heracles could have ended the fight that easily since he was now a god. Now that he thought of it, Heracles didn't have his famous Nemean Lion cloak on, or his famous bow loaded with the strongest poison-hydra poison.

It made him think just how low he was in the food chain (or was it god chain?).

He did know he had improved leaps and bounds from before that he actually for the first time felt confident in facing Angelica and Julian should they come back.

He did have that one trump card which was-

SQUEAK

The two heard the noise from the bushes and instantly reacted with Shirou tracing Kanshou and Bakuya and Artemis, pulling out her bow so fast Shirou couldn't even see it removed from her back.

The noise came out from the bushes revealing it to be...a squirrel. Again.

Shirou sighed in disappointment. "This is the second time this has happened. Someone _has _to be here."

Artemis nodded in agreement.

The two stayed in silence with only the crickets and the birds to accompany them.

Suddenly clacking was heard and a skeleton that had a cutlass in its hand appeared and tried to strike them.

Artemis however easily shot it down with an arrow. The creature then dissolved leaving only dust on the floor. The two knew that it wasn't the only one there and suddenly sensed a presence on their right. Artemis shot a multitude of arrows into a seemingly random part of the woods when a beam of pure light shot out and intercepted the arrows and was going towards them now. The two easily sidestepped it though.

A figure stepped out of the shadows and it was a giant like Artemis told him, complete with large red glowing eyes and a massive broadsword with spikes on the side of the weapon. He wielded it like the weight wasn't an issue which given its large size, it probably wasn't.

"Hoh?" the giant said slinging his massive sword over his shoulder. "Someone's immune to my eye's effect? That's a new one"

'_He must have a mystic eye of sorts.' _Shirou deduced as he watched the giant's movements carefully.

He tried analyzing the man but couldn't deduce the material of the man's sword or armor meaning he hasn't encountered the metal before, or it's something that was too strong for him to analyze.

If what Hephaestus said was true, it would take both him and Artemis to beat the giant in front of him.

"I see you took down that old fool Dullahan, eh?" the giant mocked the name... "He was way past his time anyway. If you're hoping it will be that easy then you're mistaken!"

The giant with surprising speed swung his massive sword at the two forcing them to duck out the way. Artemis kneeled and shot two arrows aiming for his eye. The giant backhanded them away.

The giant ignored the goddess and instead went for the magus aiming to cleave off his head. Shirou managed to block crossing both his swords although the impact left a sizable crack underneath his feet. Feeling the swords about to break, Shirou backed up to stand next to Artemis.

Artemis, in a display of excellent agility managed to blitz past the giant and shoot him 8 times in the back forcing him to kneel.

Shirou, seeing his opportunity, swung at the man who managed to barely evade out of the way but still suffered a crack in his armor. Seeing an opening presenting itself, the giant kicked Shirou straight in the stomach knocking the wind out of him and sending him back a fair distance.

With Shirou out of the way the giant focused his attention on the goddess in front of him.

"You know, you should just surrender." the giant said arrogantly with his hands behind his back and his sword stabbed in the ground.

Artemis rolled her eyes at his nature.

"I'll spare you if you become my woman though," the giant snarled.

Artemis looked at him in disgust. "I would rather die than touch you."

The giant shrugged his shoulders. "Have it your way then" as he said that he picked up his giant broadsword and stalked towards her. Artemis readied her bow to shoot but saw Shirou get up shakily.

Their eyes met and she nodded seeing what plan he had.

Shirou in a burst of mana enhanced speed rammed into the man, sending him back.

Artemis took advantage of this and shot twelve enchanted arrows at the man causing him to gasp in shock and a little pain. Shirou went through his blueprints for a weapon that would be most appropriate against a man of his caliber.

"Trace On."

A large spear appeared in Shirou's hands which he gripped expertly. It was the Trap of Argalia, the spear Astolfo, one of the twelve knights of Charlemagne stole.

It had the ability to bring anyone on their knees when it stabs you. This weapon was the perfect weapon to use against a giant like him who easily stood head and shoulders above them.

Artemis stood there shocked at the large spear until Shirou shook her out of her stupor as he walked towards her. She almost took a step back from how close he was until he whispered in her ear. When she heard his plans, she widened her eyes and gave him that_ 'Are you stupid?' _look before relenting and nodding.

The giant stood there with a bored look on his face as he took in the two whispering like high school students. He didn't care for whatever plans they came up with either way he would crush them and complete his mission.

Artemis stood in front of Shirou as she closed her eyes and drew back the string of her bow. It glowed with silver energy as an arrow manifested from it packed with dangerous amounts of divine power. The giant noticed and was determined to dodge it or at the very least parry it.

"Face the wrath of the gods freak!"

With that she launched her arrow at such high speeds that it broke the sound barrier and almost sent Shirou tumbling from the force.

As soon as the arrow was about to hit the giant, he nimbly dodged it only for it to curve unnaturally and return like a boomerang. It reminded the giant of Hrunting, the sword that always tracks down the enemy no matter how far away they are and no matter how many times they toss and turn.

The arrow finally ended, striking its target when the giant made a mistake with his turning, causing his armor to break on the chest area giving Shirou enough time to use the spear's ability.

In a rush of speed Shirou stabbed the lance inside the man's now exposed chest causing him to finally spit out blood and kneel on the floor.

Artemis came from up in the sky and slammed into the man's back forcing him down on his stomach. Shirou finally traced a pair of chains made by Hephaestus and bind them all around the giant's neck, stomach, eye and hands.

"We win," Shirou stated. Artemis agreed and showed it by pointing her bow at the man's head.

"You're going to face the gods and tell them _everything_ you know," Artemis said coldly.

The man instead of looking worried or distraught like he did when told he was going up to beings of nature, he simply grinned like he knew something they didn't.

"Hehe. HAHA. HAHAHA. YOU THINK IT'S OVER ALREADY?!" the man roared struggling in vain to remove the chains from him. "WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE DONE. I AM THE GREAT BALOR OF THE FOMORIANS"

He surprised them both by manifesting a card and holding it inside his large teeth.

"Install."

It then went to hell.

**A/N: I FORGOT TO UPLOAD THE FULL THING MY BAD. FIXED IT THOUGH **


	11. Chapter 11 Father vs Son?

Shirou wondered how this all went...so...damn _wrong._

This was supposed to be a simple hunting trip with his friend (enemy?)-frenemy-but turned out to be much more. He was now facing a giant that had installed the Lancer card which was known for being the fastest servant. If he decided to run they probably couldn't outrun him depending on who the card was.

Shirou snuck a glance at his opponent who was holding a blood-red spear under the moonlight. It was as tall as Shirou was and had barbs that resembled veins. The spear tip was sharp and the same color, like the rest of the spear. The thing that practically oozed blood lust from it could not be natural.

Shirou, felt a headache in his mind as he stared at the spear.

He had a feeling he saw that spear before. But that was simply _Impossible _as he would remember such a unique spear with such bloodlust. He could only come to one conclusion.

He had never seen the spear before.

But his counterparts did.

One of the things he acquired when he used the Archer card was his parallel self's memory's and with that, he encountered the wielder of that spear.

The Spear belonged to _Cu Chulainn, Ireland's Child of Light. The Son of the light god, Lugh. The main character of the Ulster Cycle in Celtic Mythology. _

The Spear itself was: Gae _Bolg__. The spear was used by the Cu Chulainn, gifted to him by Scathatch, his mentor. It's special ability: The spear aims for the heart, always. It reverses the nature of cause and effect once its name was called. _

Shirou knew that he would have to tread carefully examining when fighting the now Lancer giant. Artemis looked cautiously at the spear herself and looked for him for answers. He simply waved her off promising to tell her what was going on later because right now, he had to find an appropriate weapon to match it that won't blow up the entire forest and anger Artemis.

All of his weapons had a 'soul' of sorts in which he could mentally call out to them and look for the appropriate sword to use in a given situation. He meditated a lot at the top of the volcano in which he found out he could do that and basically alert all of the swords in his Reality Marble that he needed a weapon and whichever one believed fits the best called back out to him.

Closing his eyes time stopped around him as everyone stayed stock-still in which you would think he stopped time.

Calling out to his swords he told them about his situation and one of them instantly called out to him. Almost seeming _eager._

Tracing blueprints.

Analyzing component material.

"Trace On" Shirou intoned his favorite aria. Time finally began to start again and now everyone was now staring at the magus as a blue aura started to surround him. The both of them looked simply dumbfounded to see a spear that was divine appear in his hands. None more than the giant who recognized it instantly.

"**I Am the Bone of my Sword."**

"**Steel is my Body, and fire my Blood."**

A spear appeared in his hand.

In Shirou's hands was an amber weapon. Its shaft was gold-almost orange in color in some parts. But that wasn't the special thing about the weapon, for it had a unique blade. It had blades, all in a triangle almost as it aimed to the middle. The sharp points were fused to the middle, creating this beautiful weapon.

It's named_: __Brionac__, the spear used by Cu Chulainn's father, Lugh. It was the prototype for Gae Bolg along with spear of Odin Gungir. _

Shirou was betting on this spear to do its job, for the father had to beat the son in battle.

Shirou wasn't entirely sure which was stronger, but it didn't matter at this point since if he didn't do anything he would die, Artemis would die and possibly more innocent people would die if he escaped them.

The giant's eyes widened as he saw the spear fully materialize. Shirou's eyes turned as dark as _that day_ signaling his complete focus. Artemis however, noted that his entire right arm now was tan and none of it was it's normal color while half of his face was also tan and she saw it spread like a virus.

He didn't seem to mind it and got into a stance where he held the handle with one hand and pointed it upwards as if expecting lightning to strike down from it. His other hand was held out in front of him making for a very awkward stance even Shirou cringed at.

The giant also readied his stance with the spearhead facing downwards toward and his other hand grasping the veiny shaft. (HAH)

Shirou could tell he was about to 'thrust' the spear which would aim true regardless of what he did and the only method to getting out was teleporting or using a shield to block it. Shirou instead was about to fight fire with fire.

Artemis looked at him like he was crazy until he spoke to her.

"It's dangerous, you should back up from here till we're done" Shirou suggested to the goddess who simply scoffed at him.

"Don't tell me what to do!" She, however, still leaped back into the distance causing Shirou to roll his cold eyes before he focused back on the life and death fight at hand.

Since Brionac was a god's weapon the rank was significantly decreased from him and instead of being Anti-Fortress was now only Anti-Army which meant he would have to try a lot harder to win this fight and expel more mana then he's ever had to before. If he used his Reality Marble this would be significantly easier yet he didn't want to reveal that card just yet to anyone especially when the gods were probably watching.

In the distance, a crow's feather was falling down onto the ground which neither Shirou nor the Giant noticed however, but it was the signal to release both of there Noble Phantasms.

Suddenly Shirou burst forward, his legs reinforced with as much mana as possible and ran in a straight line towards his opponent. Just when it looked like Shirou was going to strike the Giant, he jumped up into the sky seemingly hovering in the air.

Sky Blue Light erupted from his spear as it crackled along with the prongs of the spear. For onlookers, it would look like a cosmic light show but in reality, all it was-was an all seeking spear that caused only death, the complete opposite of Excalibur which represented humanity and gave hope in dark times.

_Split the sky's and the rivers_

"**BRIONAC!"**

The spear went honing in on its target that was looking on unflinchingly.

_The giant in an excellent show of speed and strategy rebounded off a nearby tree and used that momentum to throw his spear as hard as he could.  
_

"_**I'll HAVE YOUR HEART" **_

"_**GAE BOLG!'' **_

The giant roared as he threw Gae Bolg, putting all his might into the cursed weapon. He would never forget his grandson's weapon even if it wasn't his cause of death it was even worse. He still refused to believe he died to a child's weapon.

"_**WROOOOOOOM!"**_

The two spears clashed. Hate and love, Red and Blue, Father and Son came together in a magnificent spark of power. Streaks of red and blue circled through the forest as everything erupted in an explosion covering an impressive distance.

* * *

**Artemis POV**

Artemis was amazed at what was happening and also angry at the same time

She didn't expect the boy to have access to a divine weapon such as a god's spear and even use it perfectly and with no signs of strains. It was amazing seeing a mere human achieve feats even demigods would struggle to do and not only equal it but surpass it with his wide variety of weapons.

However, she was angry about two things: 1st: He demanded _her _to move out of the way like she was a bother to him and his utter dismissal of her angered the goddess. Second, her forest was now almost completely gone taking a small portion of her domain away from her. When god's domains were destroyed they suffered either a significant or a massive portion of it go away thus making the god weaker. That's why gods hated it when their domains suffered damage and why the punishments were always harsh to almost cruel.

Artemis knew there was no way the gods were not watching up from Olympus right now. If they didn't take an interest in Shirou before they surely would now

His powers are just what she feared, or at least his weapons approached the level of gods and could threaten their existence. Although, she was sure she could smite him simply by transforming into divine form or even outmatch him in strength. He was still average human strength besides a few instances where she saw green lines coat his arms and legs occasionally making him almost superhuman.

She tried shooting arrows at the giant while he was focused on his opponent, yet whenever it got within range, he easily dodged them by simply tilting his head.

As she watched the two spears clash, she noticed that Brionac, the name that Shirou yelled was winning and was slowly but surely pushing back it's successor, Gae Bolg.

"_What is it with men and screaming what they're going to do next?!_" Artemis thought to herself

She shook her thoughts away and glanced upwards. The giant was now visibly sweating as he feared for his annihilation at the hands of the magus. Artemis had full confidence that Shirou would win this though, as he seemed to possess even greater willpower than the eon old giant which surprised her.

Maybe he isn't so bad after all?

**Shirou POV**

Shirou was not feeling good.

He was suspended in the air, constantly pouring his prana/mana into the legendary spear. He was getting dizzy from the amount he was putting in. He knew he shouldn't be using so much mana/prana at once but he had no choice.

He wanted to survive.

At this rate, however, Shirou knew he wouldn't have enough mana to use _Rho Ais _if he did lose. With a roar of frustration, Shirou got even closer to his target. His target's foot crashed into the ground as he was pushed back. It was anyone's battle now, even the slightest distraction could spell the end for the other.

_**BANG!**_

A gunshot b-lined towards the sword magus. Shirou knew he had to take action and disengage. He got ready to drop and stop the bullet aiming for his head

_**TWANG!**_

The bullet was intercepted by an arrow, hitting it precisely. Shirou couldn't look back on who intercepted it, but he had a good feeling on who it was that just saved his life. He was honestly grateful for that as all this effort wouldn't be wasted to stop a simple shot. He was after all even throughout all his power, still human.

_**BANGG!**_

Another bullet was shot towards him and was yet again, blocked by what he was sure was Artemis. Deciding not to let her efforts to stop his attacker in vain he finally mustered up the strength to push through.

"It's over Balor. Your dirty tricks didn't work and it will never work!" Shirou said, annoyed at the attempted sabotage.

"_**FLY BRIONAC!**_**"**

With that he pushed the last remains of his prana into the attack causing it's successor to win and even break the blood-red spear. The giant looked panicked and tried to get away but it was too late.

_**KABOOOM!**_

A huge mushroom cloud appeared, sucking in everything from the nearby radius, annihilating the nearby trees. Shirou didn't know if the forces keeping the supernatural and the human world separate was covering this up right now, but he hoped it was because this was huge property damage! He was probably going to get an earful from the gods later on down the line about this he bet

He landed on the remains on the ground safely, performing cartwheel to save him from the fall. Even without prana, he learned years ago not to rely on it as it can easily be drained from your circuits through overexertion, leaving you with nothing

Shirou was drained. His hands-on his knees. He could probably trace once before he passed out from exhaustion and overuse. Brionac was a godly weapon and as such, a mere mortal wielding it as if they were the owner was taxing. Physically though he was fine, as he only had little cuts and bruises, at best nothing that can't be fixed.

He still had to confirm something before he went unconscious. Leaping towards the crater in one jump he saw Balor in the middle of it.

The Giant, Balor was still alive, somehow!

"**I….A-am…. Ba..lor…. I can...can't b-be defeated this easily!" **he stuttered out weakly.

Balor couldn't move, his limbs now like they were lead to him. He was mad that he was defeated once again, stripped off his mystic eyes like last time and on the floor. Last time it was a slingshot, and now it's the _man's _spear that brought the end of him. His grandson.

"Don't you recognize your error?" Shirou asked coldly. The giant didn't even flinch and just looked at him even though he was blind.

The giant didn't answer, so Shirou answered the giant, telling him the reason why he won

"You got too cocky at the end and that's why you fell. If you simply took us seriously from the start you probably would have won."

The giant was only fighting for himself and for revenge. That's always why the villains fall, simply because the hero has a better reason to push themselves rather than the villain's mindset, that the strong rule over the weak.

Balor was getting angry by the boy's taunting words. How _dare _he tell him Balor, the (self-proclaimed) giant king!. A human had no right to tell him what's right and what's wrong, he was around since the boy's greatest ancestor was alive. Maybe even further than that! Now, he was on the floor like a weakling instead of standing up in front of the heavens instead of kissing dirt like a peasant!

Balor had one more trick. He had a knife in his tunic that he could use to surprise his opponent. He could think of it now, the boy wielding his grandson's spear bleeding out on the floor, those thoughts brought a smile to his face and he couldn't help but mentally grin at that. The giant tightened the grip on his knife, and was ready for the boy to let down his guard so he could strike.

The boy after his rants turned around showing the enemy his back. Balor immediately took advantage of it. However, what the giant didn't realize was that he was too exhausted and only face planted on the floor. Which would have made a laughable scene if the giant wasn't trying to kill Shirou.

Shirou only sighed, at the man's attempted assassination stood next to him while the man weakly tried to escape and live another day.

Before he was about to kill the man before him Artemis intervened.

"We still need to interrogate him and ask him what he knows." Shirou felt a small bit of pity for the man as he was probably going to deal with hundreds of girls screaming at him that he was pathetic like he experienced.

* * *

**Percy's POV**

Percy sighed heavily as he got back from another camp meeting that ended in... arguments and disagreements.

It was not going smoothly for the camp as always.

Monster attacks were happening more frequently, and Demigods were dying by unknown means and being dumped in rivers, trashcans, and sometimes even right next to camps. Satyrs were the protectors of demigods especially ones that came from schools like the one he went with. This meant that they were also killed causing the satyr council to become angry and scared.

Luckily, G-man was not one of them.

Percy wasn't very happy with that thought. In fact, it made him furious to see that they such young and inspiring demigods like he himself used to die. He even knew some of the demigods that were missing and even trained a few of them adding more to the wounds.

'_Maybe,' Percy_ thought to himself. _'Some giant that thinks he's the greatest and was making demigod soup somewhere_'

He knew that monsters did like eating demigods for breakfast, lunch, and _especially_ dinner. He had extra experience with that throughout Tartarus, Rome, and even during his adventures out of the states.

It would be a cold day in Tartarus when the monsters suddenly decided "Hey! We're tired of eating demigods, you can have them back now all safe and sound"

Then to finish it all off they would pat the little billy's head.

Yeah right.

That would be the day he gives away Riptide.

He knew that while most monsters now avoided him, Jason, Annabeth, Leo, and the other seven simply because they were are too strong, that didn't exclude the other demigods around and none of them can be in two places at once constantly surveying the demigods.

Jokes aside though, so many things were happening all at once and the Son of the sea god could barely keep up with it all. The mysterious stranger showing up and kicking his ass, the gods acting all weird and more on guard then they ever had been before and now, this demigod shortage.

Annabeth was in Olympus currently, designing monuments with her mother, Athena. Percy didn't mind his girlfriend pursuing what she loved and even gave his full support as long as she comes to visit every once in a while. It made him sort of jealous that he never got to spend a lot of time with his dad, Poseidon as he was busy running Atlantis.

As he was pondering about the recent attacks, his face accidentally scratched up against a thorny branch breaking him from his thoughts. That, however, put him on guard since his body always unconsciously moved whenever he encountered an obstacle. It was simply his honed instincts throughout the years of fighting.

He surveyed the environment and found an odd sight.

There was nothing here. No animal or nymph was present now and it was dead quiet like the whole environment was sucked up.

He was out of the camp boundaries simply because he wanted to hunt the monsters that were around the area. While it was true they would regenerate it took at least a week at best for them to respawn and a few months at the latest depending on the circumstances.

Nobody raised an eyebrow at his departure because he did this all the time and he was simply too strong to be damaged by anything that was not the Namean Lion. But he _did_ hear rumors of the manticore that captured Annabeth got stronger by training something that was unheard of for monsters to do.

Granted, Dr. Thorn _was _a very intelligent monster but he was still a monster in the end and had a certain pride that would not allow him to train.

But apparently, according to his dad Poseidon, Shirou the same person he fought during the mock match in Olympus defeated him with ease. Percy knew from experience that Shirou was strong and had a bunch of weapons up his sleeve that appeared from nowhere.

While he knew he was easily stronger, faster, and by far had the most endurance but that wasn't too big of a deal since he was usually better than the rest of the demigods. Still, the man had good strategy's and when he pulled out that strange weapon that could shift between forms his style completely changed to overconfident.

He was fighting a lot harder and hitting harder than most monsters he's ever faced. It didn't pierce his curse luckily and only left minor wounds that healed in minutes with a little water, but it still hurt. Especially that bow shot that was delivered which almost completely incinerated him.

One of the things he hated about having the curse was people knew he had it so they hit a lot harder than usual and went for _uncomfortable _spots.

"Where is Shirou Emiya."

Percy instantly spun around and whipped out Riptide and expanded it to his iconic 3-inch xiphos. He looked towards the man who spoke to him. The boy looked to be about 16 with the darkest blue eyes that had bags showing he hadn't slept in ages. His black hair was spiked all around and he had a school two-piece brown outfit on with his hands in his pockets.

"Reddish-white hair? Amber eyes? Yeah, I know him, are you his friend or something?" Percy asked.

The man simply stared at him before nodding.

"You can… say that" he answered vaguely. Percy knew that when people asked questions like that it wasn't for something good but he played along.

"Well, I don't know him very well, we have only fought and that was the only time I spoke to him" Percy informed. He wasn't lying either. He didn't really know Shirou outside of battle and couldn't get a good read on the man from just that short of an interaction

"I can ask the gods to tell him that you were looking for him? " Percy offered the boy.

"**No!**" he said quickly shocking Percy at his change in tone."I mean..No it's fine." He recollected himself quickly as if it never happened.

"So you're useless to me" he scoffed "Guess I'll have to show him what happens when he defy's humanity." Percy narrowed his eyes and tightened his grip on his sword.

Julian calmly started walking towards the tense Percy before disappearing in a burst of wind shocking Percy. His instincts screamed at him to dodge which he did and just in time as the man's fist was right where his head used to be. Percy while ducking from the attack, saw the man's stance was full of holes and took advantage of that with grabbing the man's collar and elbowing him in the chest knocking the wind out of him and flipping him over his shoulder head first leaving a satisfying crack signaling his head was damaged.

The man growled at him as blood pooled down his forehead which he angrily wiped at with his sleeve. Percy gave his signature annoying smirk.

"You need some help their stranger?" Percy was annoying and he knew it. He was excellent at annoying his enemies which forced them to make mistakes. He was no different.

The man then sent out insane amounts of thorny vines at Percy who expertly weaved between them and 5 meters away, surprising the man but just as the demigod was about to swing his sword and end the fight, a portal appeared which was as tall as Julian was and Percy with his momentum too much, couldn't stop and was sucked into the portal which landed him into the sky of all things.

'_Great. Zeus's territory. I would appreciate it if you don't smite me for this!'_

Percy instead of being discouraged used this to his advantage as he gained speed from the gravity and spun around rapidly and slammed into Julian with Riptide forcing a massive crater to form underneath Julian's feet who only gasped and grit his teeth as he was only blocking with his reinforced forearm. Already Percy could notice that Riptide was sinking into his skin but he didn't seem to be affected by this and took advantage of his distraction by grabbing his shoulder and tossed Percy who only back-flipped to safely meet the ground.

"So.. is there really no chance we can talk this out." Percy negotiated "Buddy to buddy?" His only answer was a stream of fire heading straight for him.

Percy sidestepped it casually as he began talking again which only served to annoy the man more.

"You know. You're not that bad for a novice." Percy mocked him.

Julian grit his teeth before thinking about one last trick he had up his sleeve. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card which had a knight with a sword.

"Install."

**A/N: THIS WAS 4K WORDS I HOPE YA'LL HAPPY WITH HOW LONG THIS WAS AS IT TOOK LITERALLY LIKE 6 HOURS. IF YALL WANT MORE CHAPTERS LIKE THIS LET ME KNOW AND I'LL TRY TO GET IT TO THIS LEVEL. **


	12. Chapter 12 Reminders of the Past

Shirou and Artemis were now heading to Camp Half-Blood from foot since... Artemis insisted they stay on foot. He knew questioning the goddess would end up badly. Perhaps even the loss of a limb so Shirou wisely stayed silent. Plus Shirou was unconscious for a good few hours from mana loss so, she could probably do it with ease.

She kept asking trivial questions that eventually led up to how he obtained such a useful skill but Shirou would always expertly dodge it.

"I was... gifted most of my weapons from a good friend. She... sacrificed her life to give me the power to stop all evil. I guess you could say she gave me the power to make a change." Without realizing it his face darkened drastically startling the goddess.

_'Damn it. Even saying her name is hard.'_

While they were headed there, however, Shirou started to sense something the work of mana at play. Of course, it could simply mean that the campers were practicing magic but that seemed unlikely because he was sensing another type of magic.

Artemis explained to him on there way there the rules of Camp Half-Blood and everything he needed to know about the place like how it hosted demigods and mythical beings alike and they all had their own cabins.

He shared a look with the goddess and started sprinting towards the camp as fast as humanly possible and soon enough he saw the smoke rising in the air signaling a fire has happened.

When he finally got in the distance of the camp he found it odd since all he saw was a strawberry field making him think he was going crazy.

Artemis was right behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, letting him see through the mist and see the camp in peril. He didn't have a lot of mana to spare but he could at least trace at least two sets of Kanshou and Bakuya.

Tracing the two blades and spinning them around in a reverse grip he prepared himself for what he would see when he arrived there. He expected to see an attacker killing demigods, a big fight happening, or even everyone in chaos but there was nothing.

He could see nothing but burning cabins and abandoned weapons which instantly put him on guard. Artemis who was also behind him readied her bow in case they encountered anything yet they saw nothing.

It made no sense for nobody to be here when there was a fire just a second ago. There should at least be bodies here, or some indication yet there was none of that.

One of the things he's learned through the years with his father was that when it was _too quiet _something was wrong.

_'Maybe everybody's sleeping?' _

Seeing his expression, Artemis shook her head in denial but didn't say anything. She was right though, as there would at least be someone out here at night getting water or something, even patrols around but once again there was nothing but the crackling flames and cabins tearing apart.

His instincts suddenly screamed at him to dodge and Shirou instantly obeyed just in time for a thorny vine to pass right where he was standing. Eye of the Mind of the true variant really was a handy ability to have since it allowed you to react to situations you normally would be able to respond to.

While it was no instinct it was technically better in away.

Instinct gave you more insight into a situation where your body dodges unconsciously rather then Eye of the Mind where it simply warned you 'when' to dodge.

Instinct could be tricked because it technically forced your body to react unconsciously sometimes leading you right into a trap.

He didn't train his Eye of the Mind hard enough so he wasn't the same rank as Archer who could react a lot better. In fact, from observing some of Archer's memories he could deduce that his Eye of the Mind gave him the best solution even if there was a 1% chance of it happening. With all his fights, he usually had to trace a weapon that was strong enough to beat the opponent at hand, and even then it was still quite a struggle to win. Archer could fight at a standstill with Lancer even if he was holding back using only Kanshou while he could barely hold up using both and knowledge of tracing.

That put seeds of doubt in him which left him open to another vine grabbing his outstretched leg and tossing him across the floor making him gasp from the impact.

When he got up from his punishment he saw the one person he hoped to have never seen again if possible. The one thing that truly connected him to his past and the one person who was as similar and yet so different from him.

Julian Ainsworth the new head of the Ainsworth family according to Kirei, supposedly wanted to help humanity from destruction as the magus family has been trying for centuries. He didn't really care for all that nonsense since Miyu wasn't on the planet so it didn't concern him.

"This time, I'm not letting you go," Julian promised coldly causing Shirou to tense up. Julian let him go last time probably out of shock and old friendship than anything else. Shirou knew that this time he wouldn't show the same courtesy as he did before.

_TWOOP _

Before the heir of the Ainsworth could utter another word, Artemis shot an arrow between his eyes causing him to show the first expression Shirou's seen in a long time. Surprise.

However, before Shirou could silently cheer for the former student president's death the man simply ruthlessly threw the arrow out of his forehead spilling blood (and was that brain matter?) on the floor. The aggressive way he did it made Shirou flinch from the sheer way he did it.

"You would attack Olympus protected territory?!" Artemis said seemingly not affected by his regenerative capabilities.

"I don't care. Gods think they are more important then humans and yet they forget why they were created. Now I'll sa-"

Artemis cut him off firing five arrows at various vital points including his balls causing Julian to awkwardly swerve around the first shot and then use his family's ancestral power to send the other four shots away which he saw in the distance explode causing him to sweatdrop.

Shirou deciding that doing nothing wasn't going to cut it anymore traced Kanshou and Bakuya and ran towards Julian who looked surprised but dodges the first swipe from Kanshou but he forgot about his other blade aiming for his head which forced him to turn his head to the right only barely dodging the strike.

Shirou saw a thin line of blood fall down his cheek signifying the blades did do something. He knew that Julian wasn't much of a fighter and was a better motivational speaker then he was a warrior. Somehow though, he's gained potent regenerative powers which allowed him to regenerate from an arrow from the brain.

'_He can't react to attacks from Artemis and he can only just barely dodge my attacks which means that whatever he's gotten this power from is not from hard work.' _Shirou deduced. If both of them worked together they would a 100% win the fight with little to no difficulty.

Even though he wasn't at a hundred percent from his fight with Balor, he believed he had enough strength to at least end, Julian. His regenerative abilities were a slight problem, but nothing Harpe or Gae Buidhe wouldn't stop. Though, using Harpe would probably not be a good idea in front of a literal greek god even if she had nothing to do with his legends.

Julian weighed his options carefully.

He could attack Shirou as even if he was trying to hide it was breathing heavily but risk the chance of dying permanently to the goddess who was clearly faster, stronger and had better endurance than him. Also, if she was a goddess then she probably had a trump card that could level the area and instantly kill him wasting everything he's built up these past years.

However, if he had summoned Angelica here she could easily use _that _to bind up the gods and he would be able to take Shirou easily. But that would leave a lot of problems in the future to deal with and they would be wary. That was the one trump-card he was unwilling to reveal for as long as possible.

"I'll be back," Julian promised the magus causing him to glare and for Artemis to faster than the eye can see shoot an arrow at the man however missing as he dissolved into particles.

Artemis scowled annoyed that he escaped his watch before turning to him and holding out her bow towards him threateningly.

"You know him, who is he and why did he attack _us_?" Artemis demanded the magus causing Shirou to hold up his hands in surrender.

"He's… someone from my past" Shirou said, clearly feeling uncomfortable with explaining to her his past but her scowl increasing forced him to explain more.

"His name is Julian Ainsworth and he works to preserve humanity by any means necessary. He wants me for his warped plans for saving humanity." Shirou said reluctantly before continuing "He will stop at nothing to get to me and that means he will even defy the gods."

He didn't like manipulating her like this but he had to do it.

Artemis sighed "I'm reporting this to the gods." she said firmly "They need to know of this threat you speak of and we will discuss how to counteract this threat."

He thought for sure she would just tell him to go with Julian and leave it at that but she's planning on convincing the gods to work with him?

He can't say his Eye of the Mind predicted that to happen. Maybe she isn't so bad after all.

He gave her a grateful smile and she only turned around to head out.

"I'm leaving." she announced "Find Chiron and the survivors and round them up"

Shirou turned around and in a flash of light, she was gone.

"Heh. I could have sworn she smiled"

**A/N: And that's that. As you can see They are finally here and are now stirring up chaos starting with Camp Half-Blood. **

**As usual, Follow, Favorite, and review your favorite (or worse) parts. **


	13. Chapter 13 The King's Fury

Shirou followed the goddess' orders and regrouped back to the camp to find the demigods all inside the Big House and most of them heavily injured.

After a few minutes he found the centaur he was looking for tending to the wounds of some campers along with children of Apollo. The two then talked about the events that led up to this and frankly he was worried.

Apparently, Julian stormed inside the camp, and broke the barrier instantly alerting everyone who was awake at the time and then proceeded to drop fire magic in the form of massive phoenix's at the camp incinerating most of the camp to ashes. Chiron, then went in to fight the man and almost won but the coward used one of the camp's demigods as hostage which made Chiron hold back leading to his defeat.

He also then went on to defeat a bunch of children of Ares, Apollo and Hermes easily but none of them were dead just unconscious and two in a coma.

That worried Shirou for two reasons.

Either, Julian is so strong that none of the campers could defeat him or... the campers were so weak that they barely stood a challenge to him.

He hoped it was the former rather than the latter.

It would make sense for it to be the latter though, since him, Chiron and Artemis can take him on relatively easily until he starts using hostages, escapes, or uses magic that none of them can counter against.

He doubted though, that anything Julian had could truly affect Artemis regardless, of the circumstance. She was the perfect example of a strong woman who had an unbreakable mind almost like Sab-.

Shirou cut himself off.

'Why did I just say Saber? Must be Archer's memories.'_  
_

Archer's memories sometimes flooded into him especially when someone reminded him Saber or Rin. It was especially annoying at times because it caused him to blank out especially at the worst of tim-

"Which is why we can trust Shirou"

Shirou was brought back to reality when he heard his name being said. It still startled him and he almost fell out of his chair from the surprise of it but corrected himself.

"C-Can you repeat what you just said." Shirou requested since he wasn't listening. The man only smiled patiently and repeated himself.

"I said that we can trust you not to pose any ill-will because you and Lady Artemis drove off the man attacking the camp right?" Shirou nodded but still found him self saddened that he could help another person who was injured.

Apparently, Percy was seen out in the woods with third degree burns and stab wounds throughout his body which meant that whoever defeated him was a clear threat to Camp Half-Blood in it's whole. He was pretty sure that it was Julian and it was no mere coincidence that Percy was attacked right in the same hour.

But one of the more worrying things was the fact that Julian had a weapon that could pierce whatever hardened skin Percy had as not even him using an A-rank Noble Phantasm broke through. Julian wasn't even very good when it came to hand-to-hand combat and had little experience in fighting which is why he usually left it to his 'dolls' like Angelica.

He knew that Julian had at least one humonculus here which was Angelica with the Archer card Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes. He had one advantage over the card users however, that could prove to be his ultimate advantage. He didn't need the card to use it's abilities since the card is the alternate version of him, Heroic Spirit EMIYA, a counter guardian assigned to protect humanity.

If he could kill Angelica, he could obtain the card and maybe just maybe Gilgamesh had a weapon or item that allowed one to transcend the universe which he could then use to find Miyu.

He doubted it could be that hard to achieve.

"So, you're fully human?" a demigod questioned who appeared to be a child of Apollo. Will if he remembered correctly. He looked to be about fifteen with the standard Camp Half-Blood shirt on and a green short sleeved shirt that wasn't buttoned up.

"As far as I know, yes" Shirou replied dryly causing the boy to laugh and wave his hands. The man seemed to have caught on to his slight annoyance and waved his hands in surrender.

"Sorry, man just checking."

The rest of the meeting went over trivial things like reconstruction, budgeting and other things he couldn't care less about but still stayed out of respect. However, throughout the meeting one person was staring at him a lot more than the others and he doubted it was because of his half tan, half normal skin. She watched him like a hawk throughout the whole meeting as if expecting him to suddenly pull out a weapon and shoot everyone sky high.

"Alright, this meeting will now be concluded. If you have any questions you can come question me privately." Chiron sighed and strolled out the door with his horse hooves clicking as walked.

Shirou was still quite amazed that he was the Chiron, Trainer of Heroes and one of the greatest Archer's in the world. He was sure that the only people who could keep up with his Archery skills was the god and goddess Apollo and Artemis which amazed him. If the man offered him a job before Hephaestus did he probably would have accepted almost instantly.

While Shirou was pondering the same girl that was watching him like a hawk was approaching him and he could get a better look at her and to be honest she was breathtaking. She had blond hair that was put into an excellent pony-tail and had grey eyes that reminded him of stormy clouds. She wore the typical outfit which consisted of the orange shirt and some blue jeans.

Her entire appearance reminded him of Saber. For a split-second he could see Saber in her royal battle dress and holding her invisible sword. Until... the image dissipated and he was greeted to reality.

"Hi, my name is Annabeth," She greeted holding out her hand to him.

"Shirou." He greeted her shaking her hand. When he shook it, he noticed that she had a very strong grip and he wouldn't be surprised if she did break one of his bones.

"Do you need help getting around camp or anything? I've been in the camp since I was around seven" Shirou whistled at how young she was when she joined the camp. Around the area, he could see hundreds of monsters lurking around and waiting for a stray demigod to appear and the fact that she was here since seven must have meant something.

"Alright, then I guess I'll leave it up to the expert then" Shirou mumbled causing Annabeth to laugh softly.

She gave him a tour of the camp and he had to say he was impressed with everything. It looked more like they were training for war rather than it being a summer camp. There were people fighting, archery areas, wrestling and lava climbing.

'_Maybe I should do some Archery later on' _Archery for Shirou was like breathing at this point and felt like a ritual for him to do. He and Sakura always practiced after-school for hours.

If he stayed in the camp which was less unlikely to happen, he would be here at the Archery range shooting.

_"_In this camp we have a lot of strong people but they were out of the camp at the time the attack happened" Annabeth informed him "While yes, Percy is technically the strongest of the demigods there is another contender who's name is Jason."

He widened his eyes. He didn't expect that coward to be in a camp like this. One of the many weapons in his Reality Marble was Rule Breaker: All Rules Must Be Broken, which allowed one to completely dispel any magic as long as the dagger touches it. He gleamed from the weapon the man Jason who had to be the most despicable person he's ever met besides Shinji which said a lot since Shinji took pleasure in killing his own sister.

The goddess Aphrodite, used her magic to make the young princess fall in love with Jason and follow him throughout his Argonaut adventure. She followed faithfully with him and ended up killing her own brother in the process yet still stayed with him. Soon the magic wore off yet, she was still in love with him and followed him but when presented the opportunity by the King of Corinth to marry his daughter he jumped at the chance without a second thought and abandoned her.

She fell into despair, and later appeared in the wedding killing everyone there besides Jason.

It was truly a life of betrayal.

"No, _our _Jason is also a son of Zeus but different from the one back then." She quickly said seeing his dark look. Though she looked quite confused as to why he was so mad at Jason when he was a hero to them. She didn't comment on it however.

"Since you're going to be a guest here, you're going to be assigned to a guest cabin we have recently made. It was luckily never burned down."

"And here you go," Annabeth said as she opened the door and stepped in first, letting Shirou follow right behind her. "For the entirety of the time you're in camp you're going to be staying here. If you need something just shout. Food times are 10 am for breakfast, 2 pm for lunch and 8 pm for dinner,"

With nothing left to say, she left the room leaving Shirou to his silence.

With all this commotion going on he remembered his job at Hephaestus' volcano that he forgot about due to this long day. Sadly, he had no way of contacting the god and letting him know he was okay and was in the camp but he figured the god just knew somehow.

Glancing at the clock he found it to be 10:45 pm which was pretty early for him but having used Gae Bolg while pumping it with extra mana to beat Balor.

He was probably, one of the greatest threat's he's faced so far and if he hadn't had his tracing he would have died easily. Putting those dark thoughts aside, he thought of something he could possibly do with his tracing.

Closing his eyes he envisioned a set of clothes in his mind and pushed the small amount of mana he had left to achieve it.

When he opened his eyes he felt the warm cloth in folded neatly in his hand like he had just washed it. Unfolding it, it was exactly what he had hoped for which was a simple blue yukata. Putting it on he found it to be the perfect size for him and it felt... cozy and exclusive to him.

With that, he slipped into the covers and closed his eyes.

At night he dreamed of a certain moon goddess shooting down a giant of the man, in the ocean. He saw her crying at the loss of her supposed friend.

He had never seen her look so... weak before. Anytime he thought of Artemis he thought of a strong, confident and slightly arrogant women who could kick his ass any day of the weak.

He wondered who that was for her to look so... distraught about. She was supposed to be the goddess of maidenhood who hated almost all men that was not her brother and yet she seemed so vulnerable.

He felt a tingling situation but shoved it down ruthlessly.

'_What's that feeling I'm having.' _

* * *

"HOW HARD COULD IT BE TO PASS THE BALL?" a loud voice said to an extra large tv screen.

"Zeus, keep it down over there I need my sleep" a woman demanded with enough authority and sternness to calm down the god. Zeus just sighed at her demands but complied and spoke quieter not wanting to awaken the wrath of his wife Hera, the queen of Olympus.

'_These incompetent humans can't do anything right! How hard can it be to simply pass the ball to another player!"_ Zeus mused as he saw his favorite team lose because the player didn't pass the ball. He knew that even the lowliest of the demigods could do better than these fools in that game.

'_I should strike down the Lakers for defeating my team. Maybe there most famous player?' _Zeus was interrupted from his thoughts by the door bursting open and his daughter entering looking frantic. Zeus jumped up, accidentally dropping his popcorn and spilling it on the floor.

"Father, Camp Half-Blood has been attacked! By a mortal!" Artemis said, not looking the least bit disturbed to see her father in boxers.

Zeus was up in an instant, unconsciously transforming into his professional business suit he used when at meetings.

"What!?" Zeus shouted eyes crackling with lightning that lit up the whole room "Who was it?!"

* * *

Down in all parts of New York rain was pouring down hard and storms forming turning the bright and sunny sky dark and stormy with lightning crackling hitting a few trees.

People in New York were confused as to why it was so stormy when it was cloudy just a few seconds ago. Stands were being flown away into the wind and trees evaporated.

One Sally Jackson was currently walking down the streets of Brooklyn with Paul Blofis, her now husband shopping for baby clothes when the wind rushed towards them, then rapidly knocking her and her husband across the street at rapid speed until hitting the granite floor.

Sally got up shakily still keeling over while Paul was completely knocked out from the blow. Looking around her she saw everyone frantic and running over people trying to get inside away from the storm when it all just _stopped._ No warning, it just stopped. Others looked confused but she had a good theory on what happened.

Zeus was _pissed_. Someone set him off somehow, someway.

She looked around herself looking for the recently brought baby clothes but couldn't find it or anything they brought.

'_Wait! My card, I have to find it!'_ Sally thought as she searched for the unlimited money card Percy gave her as sort of a Sorry-for-being-a-bad-child gift. She didn't exactly abuse it or anything and lived in a relatively normal and common house. But she couldn't lie to herself that she _did _indulge in it once or twice. But hey, unlimited money!

"Sally, ugh what happened? One second we're walking down the streets and the next we're being blasted down the street" Paul said with a shaky voice as he shook his head getting all the black spots in his eyes.

Sally didn't answer and simply stared at the sky.

* * *

"**What. Is. there. Name."  
**

His lightning was now reaching an all-time high with it turning almost black.

Artemis and Hera exchanged a brief look at each other before Hera motioned for her to tell him who the culprit was.

Now while Artemis and Hera don't really like each other at all seeing how Hera gave Artemis's mother Leto, a hard time giving birth till they found a secluded territory in which Leto could give birth. It was a long and hard procedure and she even had to help give birth to her brother, Apollo.

The family was then hunted by monsters Hera herself to sent to kill all three of them but Apollo took care of them. Ever since then, neither of the twins were in any real good terms with the goddess and when they became gods and goddesses respectively, they had to be very far apart from each other or else things would get heated.

It was better. They still ignored each other whenever they could though.

So, Artemis wasn't the biggest fan of the goddess. Not even Zeus himself, sometimes when she got cranky but the two knew they had to work together to calm him down or else he's going to possibly blow Olympus up.

"Now Zeus, calm down your scaring Artemis" Artemis glared at the women but didn't say anything proving Hera's point. Zeus turned towards her as if saying "you defy me" with her responding back "I'm your wife. I tell you what to do now calm down.". He finally relented and his divine aura stopped sparking. He took a breath before asking.

"Now, tell me what is the name of the mortal who would attack my camp?" he repeated but more calmly. Anyone who could see him though would know that he was anything but calm and his question wasn't one at all it was a _demand. _Artemis answered accordingly in a level tone.

"Shirou, the mage said his name was Julian Ainsworth, another magic user like himself who comes from the same place. He defeated Perseus." Artemis informed her father who looked distraught at the information.

'_Another magic user? They keep coming left and right!" _Zeus complained as he briefly considered bringing their resident magic user Hecate into this before tossing aside the idea. Hecate was too tricky to deal with and always wanted something in return. He had half a mind to just cancel the marriage plans and kick Shirou out and maybe he would take the attacker with him.

'_But then again, I want to see the fool suffer.'_

"So, this is young Shirou's fault?" Zeus deduced and Artemis quickly shook her head a bit too quickly.

"He had no part in the camp's attack," Artemis quickly shot down.

Zeus narrowed his eyes. Why was she being so defensive over this _boy _she's never shown any interest in beforehand. He put it aside however, for more important matters.

"Since this _is_ Shirou's problem _he _shall capture him and bring him to Olympus to pay for what he did." Zeus declared with a dramatic lightning strike.

Artemis deadpanned at his dramatic declaration while Hera did nothing as she was used to her husbands antics.

"Also," Zeus pointed to Artemis who stood up straight "With this whole situation going on we have something...important to talk about."

Artemis looked confused.

"Oh, I always love this part" Hera squealed which Artemis thought sounded like a harpy but didn't comment on it.

"About what?" Artemis questioned silently nervous she had done something to anger her father. She had to admit she was a bit of a daddy's girl like Athena and Zeus absolutely adored her in his best times.

"Shirou"

Shirou sneezed.

**A/N: That's it now I capped off with 2.1k words like ya'll asked. **

**Things are heating up; Artemis pairing may happen soon or maybe Apollo will do what he did to Orion? Zeus is pissed and is leaving that shit to Shirou to deal with so yeah He's gonna have a chat with the big man.**

**Maybe I should write how I think Angelica vs Shirou would go if Shirou used relevant swords xD. If you want that Favorite and review what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14 First Day At Camp

Waking up in a camp of demigods was anything but normal for one Shirou Emiya.

Horns were blowing, people were screaming and were the arrows he was hearing this early in the morning?

Pulling off his bedsheets he looked around, something he did often. As a novice magus he was always taught by Kiritsugu to survey your surroundings and tread with caution and the camp was no exception.

His suspicions however were put to rest when he saw nobody but himself in the cabin.

Sighing to himself he headed for the bathroom to wash up.

Arriving at the bathroom he looked at his reflection and cold amber eyes stared back.

Looking around the bathroom he found no toothbrush for him to use only toothpaste, so he instead traced a black toothbrush.

'_Sometimes the simple things in life are the greatest,' _Shirou thought as he brushed his teeth.

Exiting the bathroom, he traced another pair of clothing which consisted of his usual white and blue sleeved shirt and blue jeans along with a black jacket off to complete it.

Once he was done, he left he made his way to the camp's breakfast room which was now fixed from the lone Ainsworth. On his way there he was met with some odd glances, his red hair turning white in some parts and his skin looking like he had vitiligo

Everyone was on guard with the recent attack and their strongest demigod was injured in battle. Julian really did a number on the camp but most importantly put the gods on full alert. He would be happy about that fact if Angelica weren't here.

He wasn't stupid, he knew she had the chains of heaven which could bind anyone with divinity. If she managed to get in close with the gods, she could potentially take over Olympus single handedly which was _not _a good thing. He didn't warn the gods about the chains or anyone simply because of the fear and panic it would cause if he did so.

The gods would do something rash like endanger lives to keep themselves safe and although his ideals were different from his counterparts, he still cared about saving people.

So, he made it his mission to train hard enough to defeat Angelica before she could even get the chance to use it.

If there was anyone who could stop her, it was Shirou Emiya

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Arriving at the dining hall he was met with loud noises all around with many children of what he assumed were Hermes and Ares causing misfit and fights.

Nobody batted an eye, so he assumed that it was the usual.

He looked around before he found someone, he assumed to be friendly.

"Hello, I'm Shirou Emiya. I was wondering if you knew where to get breakfast from?" Shirou asked her kindly. She in turn looked at him weirdly.

"Rachel, and you see that table over there," she said pointing to her left where nymphs were gathered.

One of them looked at Shirou and winked. He pretended like he didn't see her.

"That's where the nymphs serve breakfast. If you like pancakes, toast and eggs, that's where you can find it. And don't worry, they're all healthy." Thalia went on.

Shirou nodded for her to continue.

"Over there we have the BBQ section, you better be quick, the Ares cabin takes most of the nice stuff," she finished her brief explanation.

"Thanks a lot," Shirou replied and headed off towards the breakfast section.

"Strange man" Rachel said before shrugging

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He chose a balanced breakfast. He never had a large appetite and chose a plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon rashers and some fresh fruit. He picked the fruit because he wanted to leave a good impression on the nymph, he didn't think they would like it if he chowed down meat.

"Maybe I should cook something," he mumbled to himself

"Cook what?"

Shirou jumped in surprise. Looking behind him, he saw two teens who looked very similar, in matching orange shirts and curly black hair. They were grinning and gave off a very trickster vibe which raised red flags in his head. He nonetheless answered though.

"I was thinking about cooking for a change. Haven't made an actual meal in a while," he said distantly and the

"Well you should totally cook because it's been soooo long since we've had home cooked meals," the left teen said dramatically.

Shirou felt a bit of sympathy at remembering what Hephaestus said about demigods having to stay in camp as monsters attack often based on who your parents were.

"Maybe if Chiron would allow me to," Shirou replied, not making any promises.

"Cool!" the teens answered

After chatting for a while, he got a good feel for them and found out that they were decent people to hang out with.

They kept asking if he wanted to prank someone but other than that they were way better people then who he used to surround himself with. Maybe he could make friends here and not be alone?

They eventually went back to their table and Shirou made it to the nymphs. They were all staring at him giggling for reasons he had a feeling he _didn't _want to know.

Politely asking for an apple and some grapes he was now confused as to where he would sit. It seemed like there were assigned seats for everyone and nobody seemed to be crossing over to the other side.

He eventually found an empty table that nobody seemed to sit at and silently ate there.

After finishing up he saw Annabeth approach him and she looked like she hadn't had any sleep-in ages. He assumed it was because of Percy which meant that Julian really messed him up.

"Morning." he greeted her, and she waved back halfheartedly. He wanted to ask how Percy was, but he figured it would put her in a bad mood if he asked that. So, he settled for casual talk.

"What are we going to do today?" he asked her, and she thought about it for a moment before responding.

"We're doing an archery tournament to see who can shoot the farthest. you wanna play?" she offered.

Shirou smiled brightly. Archery was his go-to thing while in school and he always seemed to simply have natural talent in it.

"Definitely, what time?" Shirou said with a touch of enthusiasm that even surprised him. If the child of Athena was surprised, she didn't show it. She said that it was at 1:00 pm which was four hours away from now.

He didn't know what he wanted to do but he definitely wasn't going to sit in that creepy cabin any longer then he had to.

"Meet me at the archery fields at that time, until then you can find something to do like, the lava climbing or spar with someone," she finished and ran off, probably to check up on Percy.

He tightened his fists. If only he was there in time this would not have happened.

He shook his head. Having thoughts like that would only lead to despair. All he could do now was prevent another tragedy from happening.

He turned around and started walking around camp admiring all of the unique sights around. Pegasus flew around, a few kids were walking with the same orange shirts while Satyrs walked across the green wilderness.

It looked like something out of a fantasy novel.

Looking around he found a building. It looked interesting and Shirou entered. What he saw surprised him.

It looked like those stereotypical Christmas houses you saw with all the fancy lighting and everything with a fireplace he believed was called a hearth. Just entering the place reminded him of one word.

_Family._

Sitting in a chair was a girl of Miyu's age near the hearth. She had on a brown cloak which concealed her whole body, but a closer look revealed she had brown hair and amber eyes like himself.

Seeing her all by herself he decided to give her some company and sat down next to her. He didn't say a word and neither did she; they just stayed silent, seemingly lost in thought to other spectators.

For some reason being near the hearth reminded him of his time with Kiritusgu and Miyu. Cooking for them, playing with them, sharing stories and all sorts of family activities that never truly happened like a family dinner where everyone was smiling.

Of course, that never was reality as his father never truly cared for Miyu and only sought to use her wish granting powers for humanity just like Julian.

He was supposed to follow his alternate selves and save _everyone. _

He defied that and chose to save one over the many.

That was the main difference between himself and his other selves.

Unlike his other selves he didn't meet a girl named Rin Tohsaka who would later help him in the Holy Grail War, he was by himself. He didn't have a servant; he _was _the servant.

And most importantly he didn't meet Saber like all his other selves. Who changed his fate forever and taught him one of the most important things

Love, Comradeship and Destiny.

That's what he was most envious of.

He's always lived like a machine and only lived for the sake of Miyu and no one else.

He wanted to change that. He _needed _to change that. He was tired of being alone. He was tired of not having any allies with him to stand by his side.

But most importantly, he needed to get strong enough so he could defeat both Julian and Angelica.

With that thought in mind he got up from the chair and made his way out. A newfound determination in his eyes. The light that was once stuffed out once again put together if anything it shone brighter than before and it seemed the girl noticed.

"Did you find what you were looking for?"

He kept walking, not looking back.

"Yeah."

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"Trace On"

Black and white falchions appeared in his hands.

He practiced his stance holding Kanshou and Bakuya and made sure they were perfect. With Archer's memories he could mimic the stance to the best of his ability.

With it he had limitless potential.

While he was currently just at servant level with all his stats at D rank, not even better than EMIYA's throughout time, probably when his hair and skin turned completely to Archer's skin tone he would be at the same level.

Now while he didn't have the Archer card, he didn't need it anymore. He was slowly merging himself to a younger version of the counter guardian anyways.

All he owned now however was seven empty cards that had seemingly no purpose that he forgot about them.

With no idea how they worked he left them in the guest room as he assumed anyone who _did _go in there would just think they were simple cards.

While training he didn't notice a group gather into the training arena. He only noticed when they started sparring amongst each other.

He realized they were the Hunters of Artemis, one of the first encounters of humans(?) since he got into the world. Now while they weren't exactly friendly, they didn't seem to pay him any mind so he didn't either.

Turning towards the dummy once again, he threw his blades at and projected more as fast as he could. One of the techniques he wanted to learn was Archer's _Triple-Linked Crane Wings _which consisted of throwing many copies of weapons as fast as he could to surround an opponent.

He'd seen in Archer's fight against the Irish demigod hero Cú Chulainn that he projected exactly twenty-eight swords with no effort.

He could probably trace four at that speed.

For whatever reason whenever he's in battle his mana goes dramatically up and that it allowed him to trace weapons such as: Brionac, Clarent and Gae Dearg.

He could still only summon 4 layers of Rho Aias, the shield that not even Hector could pierce and his are even weaker than Archer's two layers of the same shield.

His skill _Eye of the Mind (true) _skill which allowed him to calmly analyze an opponent's moves and react accordingly was also painfully low with it only being a D ranked.

He supposed with that he would need simple experience fighting tough opponents.

"Hey, you what's your name again?"

A voice spoke to him and Shirou turned around facing the girl who was with him when he was at the hunter's camp Thalia Grace. It was nice seeing a familiar face and although they didn't really know each other he knew she was kind and didn't seem to harbor hate towards men.

Doing a totally respective once over her, he saw that she really took the whole tomboy definition and made it her own. She had on a silver coat, but it wasn't zipped and you could see a black biker jacket that had spikes on the shoulders and her hair was messy.

All in all she was the most tomboy girl he's ever seen.

She was however carrying a silver bow in her hand and had silver daggers on her hips. He copied them into his Reality Marble which he forgot to do beforehand and analyzed them. With that he learned a bit of her history.

Apparently, she was the daughter of Zeus the king of the gods and she was turned into a hunter to prevent her from turning the age of sixteen.

That explained… a lot. Hunters are immortal and would forever stay the same age unless they died in battle or broke their celibate wows.

"Shirou. Shirou Emiya."

He felt like he's said the name a thousand times and he would go on to say it a thousand more.

"I've seen you make those nice-looking swords there. You look pretty strong, wanna fight?" she asked him, her blue eyes full of enthusiasm.

He thought about it before shrugging, he didn't see the harm in indulging her request.

Spawning Kanshou and Bakuya he twisted them in a flash of blue in the best stance he could get. Left foot forward while the right was back, and swords held in a reverse grip ready to counter any move. There were virtually no openings shown in the stance.

The other hunters of Artemis seemed interested in seeing him get tossed around as they all crowded around him, and Thalia blocked them off in a circle.

'_They must want to see me die!' _

Thalia seemingly not disturbed by this fact slung her bow back over her back and took out her two intricate silver knives from her hip and held a stance like his yet not as complex and with more openings.

Right as they were about to duel however, someone stepped in and he saw it was the trainer of Heroes himself, Chiron.

Looking like every bit the wise centaur, he was he had a cool and calm face on. "If you two are going to fight, I will be the referee and the medic."

Shirou and Thalia blinked in surprise.

Chiron's horse tail flapped about. "Some ground rules, there will be no killing, maiming and stabbing. And no weapons that will cause destruction to the arena."

Shirou felt that Chiron was talking exclusively to him and he simply shrugged his shoulders. _'Must have seen my fight with Percy.' _he thought to himself.

"If you will follow those rules then we may begin"

"Three" both circled each other

"Two" looking completely serious

"One" both coiled their legs

"Go"

And then they charged both leaving a burst of air in their wake and clashed.

**A/N: DONE. Found a lot of inspiration writing this chapter from all the fanfiction I've been reading tell me what you think of it. **

**Until next time. Wrath. **

**Done. **


	15. Chapter 15 Lightning Strikes!

The two met in the middle, weapons crossed against each other stopping each of them from gaining any ground. But Thalia was slowly gaining ground on Shirou, her smirk a display of confidence

Shirou noticed this and thrust his right leg out, kicking her backwards. He gripped his right blade tighter and threw Kanshou at her, it spun towards her quickly but she raised her knife against it and managed to deflect it, shooting Shirou a questioning glare asking why he would throw one of his weapons at her.

**SHWING!**

Her question was answered when Kanshou returned like a boomerang, forcing her to bend to dodge the attack as it returned to his hand.

Thalia and Shirou charged towards each other, trying to find weaknesses in each other, all in a clash of sparks and colors as they met in the middle. Both tried to do their utmost best, but they couldn't find any weak spots in the others defense.

Thalia stabbed a knife forward, slicing the spot Shirou was a second ago. He rolled to dodge the attack and used the opening to slice at her and still held out an arm. With some brute force, he knocked away her knife, sending it out of his eye's view.

Shirou was impressed at how skilled she was with knives, keeping up with him easily.

Thalia was like his other enemies, she was 'faster and stronger' than him but he easily made up for it in skill and precision with his blades and unlike her weapons, he could discard the weapons like toothpicks and project more at will.

She only had silver hunting knives which were a lot shorter than his two falchions and were probably more for hunting then they were for actual fighting, though he did see Artemis use them in the forest.

He easily had the advantage in range and if need be, he could use overedge to make the blades longer.

Instead of her backing down she only grinned and put her remaining knife away and pulled out a long pole that extended to a spear, that was taller than herself. Also, her bracelet which he had a feeling was not normal was in fact as he guessed… not normal and it also expanded, but this time into a round shield that had the face of a woman with snakes as hair.

"I was only using those knives as a warm-up, now it's time to get serious!"

Shirou grimaced now that she had a longer weapon that even looked more durable than her knives. She also now had longer range and could extend farther to hit him whereas he had to get in close.

Also, her shield would stop him from throwing his weapons as she could just block with the shield.

He wasn't too worried though, as he'd fought a spearman before in the Holy Grail war even if it was brief. He knew the basics of how a spearman thought and with Archer's experience within him he could deduce that all he would have to do is simply bait her into overextending and reach into her guard before she could realize her mistake. That was the best-case scenario.

Now, the problem was that most spearmen were aware of this fact and had methods to counterattack it. He remembered the fight Archer had against Cu Chulainn, where even though the demigod was under orders to not fight at full power, was still able to keep up with Archer and whenever he tried reaching into his guard, the man would quickly bring back his spear.

He carefully examined her as he sprinted towards her equipped with a new plan. She thrusted almost immediately as he reached into her range, forcing Shirou to block it with Byakuya and then push her spear to the right leaving only her shield to block with. However, she surprised him as instead of simply giving up, she collapsed her shield into a bracelet freeing her hand letting her grab him by the collar, elbow him hard in the shin and throw him away forcing him to backflip to land on his feet.

'_I forgot that everybody in camp has at least moderate to expert training in Pankration, the Greek wrestling.' _

She exploited his weakness just like Percy did showing she was paying attention to the match. He briefly considered asking Chiron to teach him how to fight without his weapons as it really was starting to become a problem.

The two then circled each other warily as they readied their respective weapons. Thalia charged first, with a swipe forcing Shirou to twirl around to avoid and tried to smack her using the flat side of his blade she however countered it by holding up her shield. As the blade impacted the shield it let out a loud clang that vibrated his arm. She then brought her spear back around and the two were now back to a stalemate.

Neither gave in, and neither got any ground; it was a stalemate.

Or at least it was a stalemate until a lightning strike straight from the heavens impacted and hit him point-blank, almost frying his nerves if he hadn't used a last-second reinforcement. It did its job however, as it left him opened to a kick in the shin sending him back a few feet.

'_Forgot, she's the daughter of Zeus, so of course, she can control Lightning!' _While the Eye of the Mind was a handy skill and it helped him counterattack so far, it can't react to things it's not focused on and in this case it was focused on making sure Thalia didn't counterattack or try and knee him. If the skill was higher like a B-ranked he would be able to determine when exactly to dodge the attack.

He could still fight of course, but almost all his nerves in his hands were fried for at least a few minutes and his hands were shaking pretty badly

"You okay over there? We can stop if you want" Thalia said good-naturedly, but the crowd didn't seem to interpret it that way and started to laugh. It was mostly coming from the hunters who were cheering for their lieutenant.

Meanwhile, the campers were cheering for him even though he was technically an outsider in this whole ordeal and didn't represent the camp at all. What surprised him was that Percy and Annabeth were there encouraging him too.

Now with new confidence, he tossed his two weapons at the demigod, who only blocked it with her shield, only for him to keep tracing more and more. Soon the blades were aiming at all her openings making it impossible to get away with without injury.

The technique was called Triple-Linked Crane Wings which was sending multiple copies of the same sword in an endless wave. It was one of the more recent techniques he'd learn from Archer and certainly unique.

However, he wasn't an expert at the technique like Archer whereas he could send them flying faster at the opponent. He would just have to practice more on it.

Thalia, unfortunately, blocked it by surrounding herself in an aura of electricity, which blew all the swords away easily. She then directed lightning into her spear and shot it out in a straight line disable him with the blow. Luckily, his married blades could disable magic attacks up to A-rank and he managed to dispel them and only got knocked back a few feet.

He was officially hating electricity the most right now that he could imagine how Percy felt when he used Clarent on him.

'_Wait a second…' _Suddenly, a plan came to mind in his head. Whether it was his Eye of the Mind, or his own brain he couldn't tell but he had a plan.

And it involved tracing a spear, like hers. A powerful spear.

"Trace On"

In his hands appeared a spear that was as tall as he was with the shaft being entirely purple and towards the top were veins that started to creep on the spear. At the tip of the spear, it was lined with gold and overall, it looked like the spear of a king.

Its name was…

_Mac an Luin, a spear used by the great Irish hero Fionn of the Knights of Fianna. The spear's special ability was the ability to shoot out floods of water that Fionn's, ancestor, Nuada controls._

With that said he pointed to the sharp point of the spear towards Thalia, shocking her and the audience at the appearance of the spear. The spear blurred as he twirled it between his two hands.

_Shirou's plan was simple._

Rushing towards Thalia, the two's spears met in a clash of sparks as the two both tried thrusting and slashing at the other to no avail. Thalia's spear now erupted in electricity, shot out an arc of it only for Shirou to twirl his spear in front of his face and cancel out the blast.

_He would bait her. _

"Is that all you got?" he taunted her, causing her to growl but rush towards him faster than ever before. In fact, Shirou could see electricity sparking against her clothes signaling she was using it to make herself react faster than before.

'_She's smart' _

When the two's spears met Shirou, with expert precision spun the spear around and hit her with the butt of the spear stunning her, before kicking her straight in the face almost knocking her weapon out of her hand.

She was getting frustrated and he could tell.

She collapsed her shield and fell right into his trap as she held her spear up into the sky.

"DIE"

_Then when the trap is set, release the spear's special ability. _

He held out his spear in front of his opponent. Completely drowning out the crowd of people. Even if this was just a mock battle, he couldn't lie that he was a sore loser if anything.

"It is time for glorious victory**, Mac an Luin!**"

Since he didn't say the full name of the Noble Phantasm, it was incredibly weak and would not cause any permanent harm making it fit to use in a sparring match.

Water suddenly focused towards the tip of the spear shocking all who saw it. It was as if Poseidon himself was helping him channel the water into the spear even though he wasn't.

Thalia, to her credit, used the fact that he was holding out the spear and shot a bolt of lightning at him in the hopes of cancelling out the attack. Unfortunately, she didn't take into account that he would be strong enough to resist it and keep the attack going.

She tried to block with her shield, but the pressure of the water impacted the shield and still knocked the wind out of her, knocking her onto the ground, hopefully unconscious.

Shirou on the other hand, wasn't in good condition either as the electricity she shot at him was doing its job making his nerves act up and made it hard to stand.

Shirou could barely feel his legs and now it was a battle of willpower to see who could get up first.

Seeing the two of them struggle, Chiron decided to speak "Whoever stands up first wins"

Shirou while in better condition than she was, had lower durability then she did and thus couldn't take too many hits without being completely out of it.

Even though he was in top human condition he couldn't keep up with her in durability because she's a demigod. But if nothing else he bet he had more will than she did.

While this was just a friendly spar gone wrong, he was far too competitive to give up this far in. So, with the last of his willpower, he stood up on his own two feet while Thalia laid on the ground, exhausted.

Thus, making him the winner.

It struck him as odd however, that she was so...out of it when most of the damage impacted her shield and not her actual body. He could have sworn that it was only D-ranked damage.

The campers cheered at his victory, while the hunters scowled at him, but he pointedly ignored them as they were just… mad at his victory.

Chiron came up to him and patted him on the back gently "Well fought child!"

He felt a strange sense of pride that he's rarely ever had. The feeling of accomplishing something and people cheering you on as you did it.

While yes, in archery they cheered him whenever he perfectly hit a bullseye this felt… different for him in a way because it was an actual challenge that he overcame if only barely.

Even with the commotion going on, he could briefly see a bird made of metal stare at him then wink before flying off.

Shirou snorted.

All the campers that were there, carried him up over their heads as they all began asking various questions.

"How did you beat Thalia!"

"Where did you get that cool spear from!"

"Are you single?"

He blushed at that last one but didn't respond to any of them, mostly because he couldn't since he was too tired and used all his magical energy which was still slowly replenishing. At the rate it was going, it would be fully replenished in... a full day.

They then informed him that he would be healed by one of the camp's best children of Apollo. The group of children then took him to a cabin that had a large plus sign as what you would expect in a doctor or nurse's office. He told them he can walk from here on and after a little bit of reluctance, they let him be lucky for him.

When he opened the door, he saw

The only real difference was he was wearing a white coat reminiscent of a doctor's coat, but it had the camp Half-Blood mascot, Pegasus on the breast of the coat.

Once the kid saw him, he quickly perked up "Hey, I never told you my name, I'm Will Solace," he greeted holding out his hand which Shirou shook gently. "Son of Apollo, and one of the best medics" he boasted.

He couldn't say for sure if he was just blowing air or if it was legit but, in the end, couldn't find it in himself to really care.

The now named Will, put a hand on his chest, then closed his eyes and began chanting something he couldn't even begin to understand. Though, he had a feeling it was Greek, and he was praying to his father.

Soon, it felt as if the sun suddenly wrapped itself around him in a gentle embrace as his wounds started healing rapidly, and the numb feeling of the electricity almost completely disappearing.

'_T-This feels incredible!' _

He didn't have many healing Noble Phantasms that didn't cost massive amounts of prana that he couldn't even begin to support. Unlike his other self, he didn't have a best friend and sometimes Lover named Rin who gave him a magic crest so he could produce mana a lot easier and had to supply himself mana the hard way. While he did have a decent amount of mana with almost thirty magic circuits, it was still nothing to write home about.

He knew at best, standard first-aid knowledge which he learned while travelling with Kiritusgu. The two worked as mercenaries for a time and took up odd jobs till his father's health started declining and he couldn't travel on the road anymore. At the time, he wished he became a doctor as he could have probably done something rather than nothing.

Even though he insisted it wasn't his fault he still blamed himself for not being strong enough even to this day where he was now strong enough to match up against demigods, monsters, and giants alike.

"And we're done"

Shirou broke out of his thoughts when Will got up and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead. "You had some pretty bad nerve damage from the electricity, but it should be better now if you simply get a good night's sleep."

Shirou looked uncertain "So, I don't have to worry about anything?"

Will shook his head "Nope. But I would recommend taking it easy for a while and not using whatever it was you used to such an extent."

"No promises, but I'll try"

Will smiled good naturedly "That's all I ask."

Wanting to change the subject, Shirou struck up an idle conversation with the boy. "So… you're a child of Apollo. Are all of you medics?"

"Not really, some of us are not good at being medics and are better with the bow while some are good with being a medic but horrible with the bow" Will responded.

Thinking about it, it made sense as not everyone is good at everything just as he's not good with anything besides a few magic.

"But, I'm curious, I heard you and Artemis have been awfully close. Why is that?" Will said expertly shifting the attention to Shirou.

Shirou couldn't really explain his relationship with Artemis in words. He supposed he considered her a friend at the very least as she's protected him and fought by him quite a few times like with Balor.

If she hadn't helped with the fight, there was a very good chance he would have perished right then in there. But he didn't even know if a god _could _have a friend that wasn't divine or their spouses.

He wouldn't say they were _awfully _close though, as their conversation usually ended up with Artemis asking about his blades and how she would turn him into a woman to join the hunt. She was teasing though, he hoped.

"We're not as close as you think. And definitely not like that" Shirou adamantly denied.

Will didn't look convinced. "Look I'll tell you something about myself, I have a boyfriend."

Shirou didn't look disgusted or anything and instead just stared at him. While he had never had a gay friend before, though he was sure Julian was as many girls hit on him and he ignored them or denied them harshly.

For sure Gay.

In the distance he could have sworn he heard someone say "Hey!" but Will didn't seem to hear anything, so he didn't say anything.

"And to be honest, he can be a little bit broody at times." Will confessed, getting a small laugh out of Shirou. "Long story short, I'm not saying be gay but it took me a long time for me to get him to loosen up and get out of his shell you just need to do that with Aunty"

Shirou sighed. "I don't love her though" he pointed out, getting annoyed at the demigod's insistence.

"If you say so," Will said, seemingly relenting from his teasing. "Anyway, I've got to go meet up with said person right about...now"

"Have fun" Shirou realized what he said at the last second as Will had already left.

'_I really need to work better on my phrasing!' _

Shaking the thought out of his mind, he got up and left the medical facility. It was now about 7:00 pm, and he wasn't hungry, so he headed back to his cabin to get some rest and regain some mana.

While walking back to the cabin, he ran into a few campers who waved at him and the occasional child of Aphrodite gave him a… passionate hug as was expected from children of the love goddess. The Ares kids, gave him a slap on the back which hurt, Hermes kids tried to prank him which he luckily avoided, Dionysus kid (rip other kid) was sane and just waved at him, Apollo children gave him that handshake that they called a "dap" and the Athena kids just gave nods of respect.

He encountered some interesting people on the way to say the least. One of them was one Jason Grace, son of Zeus and brother of Thalia. He was too put it shortly, very handsome (not that he swings that way) with rich blond hair and had a scar on his lip that kind of gave off those pretty boy vibes to him. He looked… absolutely nothing like Thalia either from the hair color to clothing and the only thing that made the two resemble the other was the electric blue eyes that they shared.

When the man saw him heading to his cabin he approached him and started a conversation."Hey, the name is Jason Grace. We haven't properly been introduced yet."

Seeing him a lot… kinder than Thalia surprised him but not by much since the two didn't even look much alike "Shirou Emiya. I'm staying at this camp for the time being"

"Nice to meet you Shirou, I just wanted to meet the person who beat my sister" Jason explained "I saw your fight and I have to say… I'm impressed with your skills. You could really become something with that. Trust me I know from experience"

Jason gave off an eerie aura of power not unlike Percy. As the son of Zeus, he bet the two had a pretty intense rivalry as they were both children of the Big Three and had a lot to live up too. He didn't know how he would handle being a child of Zeus, Poseidon or even Hades.

Zeus and Poseidon to be specific scared him the most as he's had the most interactions with the two gods.

Zeus was arrogant, that much was clear from the start and he loved having attention drawn to himself and nobody else. He remembered whenever he glanced at the other Olympians, he would drag him back to reality by talking forcing him to bring his attention to the god. Also, he was a very paranoid man, with him approaching him with extra caution. He wasn't stupid and knew that Zeus wasn't going to truly let him go as he made it seem like. He was arrogant but he wasn't a fool. He was giving him people and things to care about and he wants him to establish bonds to keep him tied to the gods. Which is why he offered him the position of godhood right off the bat without even knowing him that well.

He speculated that he wasn't even going to make him a god and was going to trap him, somehow or someway if he accepted. He doubted the King of Olympus was that foolish to allow a stranger the authority of gods know what. He wasn't foolish enough to believe either way that he would be able to beat Zeus or even the gods, so he was greatly confused as to why they were so fearful of him.

Even the demigods were quite stronger than him which was to be expected when you were half god and quite a bit faster. He speculated that the demigods had a skill like Eye of the Mind where they could focus better in combat as Percy and Thalia did in battle. Without his tracing he would have absolutely been stomped even with Reinforcement because unlike him, their strength was passive and didn't take magical energy.

So, he could only imagine how the gods' power must be as they controlled the very nature around him. He'd seen a few glimpses of their power like when Zeus snapped his fingers and brought them to the arena in but a second which was something, he doubted even magi could do right.

Also, Hephaestus would occasionally lift various machinery with polarity, and randomly assemble them together without even realizing it. He even recognized some of the things there as things that would take mankind years to come up with. He also casually walked through fire like it was nothing whereas he only survived with his magically enhanced clothing.

And that left him to his last example, Artemis. Now she was just a box of surprises one after another with her barely getting harmed fighting Balor whereas he was basically the giant's punching bag till he pulled out high tier Noble Phantasms and beat him there. Artemis also forced him to use Rho Aias, and Nine Lives just to fend her off. He knew that if he ever wanted to match up to the gods, he would need better armor, weapons and strength.

Poseidon on the other hand-

"Hey dude you okay?" When he came back from his thoughts, Jason was looking at him concerned. He cursed to himself as he often got caught up in his own musings and zoned out the world around him.

"Sorry, just had some… flashbacks" _To when I almost got killed by your father._ Was left unsaid.

"That's cool, us demigods tend to do that a lot. If I had to tell you one thing about demigods, it's that all of us muse back to when things tended to be less… crazy"

"You can say that again" Shirou said genuinely laughing at how true the statement was. One minute, you're an ordinary kid living a pretty ordinary life then one bad turn (which for him was telling Julian about his sister and taking her to the ocean) and things go from zero to a hundred.

He would be lying if he said he was like his alternate self where he held no regrets. If it was possible, he would rewind time and go back to when days were simpler and not where his sister was in another world and he was in his own strange place where gods still walked the earth and they had plenty of children that attended a camp taught by a legendary centaur.

"Anyway, I have to get back to my girlfriend, Piper you know how women get" Jason said chuckling and the two shook hands one last time before they went their separate ways.

Shirou with no further interruptions, made it back to his temporary house in no time and opened the door…

To see, Hades, the God of the Underworld sitting on a chair with his arms crossed. On the table was his Helmet of Darkness, an item that made one completely invisible to all which unfortunately, he couldn't trace.

"Hello, Shirou Emiya I have a… mission for you to do" Hades said with a blank expression on his face, not letting the magus know what he was thinking.

**A/N: So, a lot happened in this chapter with Thalia and Shirou's battle which took me days to finish because I suck at fight scenes. If any of you are better with fight scenes, then me I'll hire you on the spot xD**

**Anyway, we only have like two more chapters in Camp before Shirou leaves again to go on his own adventure. I know from experience how boring it is just staying in camp but for now we must endure the pain.**

**We are going to be moving onto the Underworld Arc next and you will see Shirou get a lot stronger than he is now. My goal is to make him the strongest Shirou ever. Because right now, he can barely keep up with a demigod and the only reason he's been winning so far, is because of his tracing (the most broken ability ever).**

**Lastly, I don't know if I'm going to be doing Egyptian gods unless someone sends me a ton of information on what exactly they do and all that other good stuff.**

**I will be covering Magnus Chase though, as best as I can and yes, I can confirm Shirou will be going to Asgard and the Nine Realms in one arc. **

**Lastly, I wanted your opinion on whether to add in more servants like Arturia into the mix. It's your choice, and I don't really care either way as I have soooo many ideas planned out if you simply stick around.**

**By the way, go check out my other two stories named Distorted and Professor Chiron.**

**Long story short, Distorted is about Percy getting 'defeated' and turned into a servant. He's trying to win the Holy Grail war and get back to Camp before Annabeth cuts a hole in the dimensions and strangles him. Professor Chiron, is basically where Fate, Chiron gets sent to Remnant and his task at hand, is to teach a bunch of brats how to fight and help them save humanity and if he does so, he can reclaim his Divinity like his wish said. **

**Both excellent stories and occasionally I will post on there when I update this story next.**

**Until next time, Wrath.**


	16. Chapter 16 Tauropolos

A golden-haired man in an equally gold chiton was riding on his chariot.

Of course, it was no ordinary chariot, in fact, it wasn't even a physical one as much as it was conceptual. It was just a molten ball of heat.

It was the sun chariot, the owner: Apollo, God of the Sun and brother to Artemis, goddess of the moon. Speaking of Artemis, he was heading over to his sister's own temple in Olympus that she rarely used except on rare occasions like when she wanted to be alone.

His mother, Leto gave him the task of watching over his sister as she was too weak and couldn't take care of them anymore despite the fact that she was a Titan.

She was struck with a curse presumably by Hera, which made her constantly ill and her body would always be weak no matter how many times she reformed.

It was done out of spite, since Zeus cheated on her and produced two twins which infuriated her. She mostly got over it, but the twins stayed as far away from Hera as possible.

Anyway, he was with one of his baby mam-his lovers when he'd heard about the proposal Zeus gave Artemis from Hermes, who as always, snooped around and tried to get the scoop of everything like a Gossip Girl

For once however, he was glad that his half-brother was listening as he quickly promised his baby m-_his lover _he would return which he most certainly would and left to her temple.

He could now see her magnificent temple that stood out from the others even though it wasn't lavishly made of gold or any fancy temple.

It was because it was quite simple, that it was unique. It had a sort of _natural _look to it that made it admitally better than his own gold-covered mansion.

When he arrived at the large gate of the temple, he decided to take a more practical approach unlike other times when he simply stormed in there like he owned the place, which he knew his sister wouldn't like.

Gently knocking on the door, he waited patiently for her to open and greet her older brother. He even had his hands out ready to give the moon goddess a hug should she need it.

And yet, nobody responded. He was only greeted with the sound of mother birds singing to their children. He crossed his arms and waited patiently for her to open the door.

Five minutes went by.

Ten minutes went by.

Then thirty…

He ran out of patience and simply forced her gates open with sheer brute strength which wasn't something he liked doing often as he tended to go for a more practical approach. But desperate times called for desperate measures.

When he stepped inside, he was greeted with an arrow straight towards his forehead. He easily caught it between his index and middle finger.

The room was dark and gloomy which was very uncharacteristic of the environment.

When you entered the temple, you were usually greeted by silver statues which exhibited famous hunters who died in the line of duty like Atalanta, Zoe, Callisto and many others. Mostly they all died a tragic death, and Apollo even knew most of them.

Now however, the room that previously was lit up with silver lighting was now darker than Hades himself. Luckily, he was the Sun god and could easily see in even the darkest of places and navigating through it wasn't an issue.

'_Why did she turn off the lights in the temple? Is she simply that depressed by Zeus' orders or what?' _He'd briefly met her soon to be husband, Shirou and found him to be quite okay to be around.

It didn't start off that way however, as he'd heard of the mortal who harmed Artemis and even spilled her ichor on the floor however miniscule it was.

He was very protective of Artemis and despite all his jokes, he loved her more than anyone else in Olympus even more than his own father, Zeus.

Orion was but one example of him doing what he deemed best for her as. He'd killed Orion because she was extremely close to breaking her vows of chastity and he just couldn't accept that.

Him, sure. He would mess around with various women but with very few did he stick around for. Orion always gave off odd vibes to him and something in his gut told him he would leave her to save his own skin.

So, he did the only sensible thing and cursed the fool with curses so he would go on a rampage and eventually kill himself.

He eventually died at the hands of the scorpion and when Artemis found out about his involvement with his death, she didn't talk to him for centuries.

No matter where they were and if she absolutely had to talk to him, she would relay it through Zoe who didn't look any happier than she did.

But it paid off as just as he expected, Orion had shown his true colors and was killing her hunters like he'd said. He gave her one of the smuggest looks when he was proven right.

Let it be known that Apollo is the god of the truth and speaks to the truth. Amen.

Back to the subject at hand, when he met Shirou and got true insight into his personality he instantly understood everything there is to know about him.

It was never Shirou's intention to harm Artemis. Apollo believed he was innocent, and he was so powerful that one day he could be a threat to the very gods themselves.

The weapons he 'traced' as he called it, were degraded or at least everything that was not the black and white falchions he produced.

In the case of the shapeshifting weapon, it was easily ranked down at least an entire level from its original.

Apollo could see the 'truth' in all things, and it extended to more than just people. He could see the truth in weapons and can even tell if a weapon is forged or if it was the real thing.

When he'd seen Shirou's fight with Percy, he'd produced many weapons and the stronger they were the more they were degraded. He speculated that he hadn't fully mastered the full extent of his abilities and by the time he turned twenty he would have enough power to even threaten the gods.

He knew Zeus knew this little fact too and that was the reason he'd 'suggested' the two fight.

It wasn't for good fun. It was so Athena and Ares could get a read on his power-level and they'd told him all there was to know about him.

He wasn't a human and nothing else which meant he had limitations. One of the greatest things they feared was that he would be impossible to fight but it was later found out during his fight with the giant that he had but average human abilities if not slightly superhuman, something even Aphrodite could handle.

Once again, he had limitations and Athena highly speculated that he had something called a 'mana pool' that determined how much they could use. She said he didn't use the same system as students of Circe did and used a more… primitive version yet it was effective. He seemed to be able to trace at least five high-level weapons before he ran out of 'mana'.

And finally, he was human. The Olympians had centuries of experience with humans and knew how to control all types of humans. Stoic, prideful, battle hungry, sad, cheerful it didn't matter they knew. Most humans could be sated with money, fame and more importantly notoriety (or clout). Which led to this situation.

He couldn't say he exactly approved of it but when his father had his mind made up there was no changing it.

Bringing himself back to his thoughts, he arrived at Artemis' personal chambers which consisted of a silver bed, silver-well _everything_ as was expected of the goddess of the moon.

He saw his sister laying down in her twelve-year-old form on her belly.

"Hey little sis, how's it going?" he asked her, and her only response was a groan making him frown.

"Go away Apollo. How did you even get in, I locked the doors and set multiple traps?" Artemis said annoyed at his presence. She'd had enough talking with the whole incident with her father and wanted to be left alone now to think.

"Oh, you know me little sis, I simply broke in again. Maybe I should have brought you some Chinese food that I know you love-despite the fact that you're the goddess of the wild." Apollo said smugly

Artemis blushed at his apparent notice of her love for Chinese food. She couldn't help herself though, it was so good, especially the stir-fried chicken

She shook her head out of her thoughts-which also made her hungry at the same time. "I don't know what you're talking about. If all you came here to do is tease me then you should just go" Artemis said muffled from under the covers.

Apollo frowned "I'm serious sis, if you want, I can talk to dad and try and work something out. Though… he's not a bad guy you know" he teased her making her roll her eyes.

"...Very funny." she said sarcastically.

"Here, I'll sing you a song." he manifested his golden guitar and started singing "# If you like, the way, he looks that much then maybe you should go and marry him #"

She slammed her head against the pillow multiple times to try and block out the noise but to no avail, as his guitar was simply too powerful.

"# Nanananaana..."

This went on for several minutes until she finally got up, charged towards Apollo, grabbed his guitar and threw it against the wall.

While it didn't break since it was enchanted, to never break (cough Hephaestus) it still stopped the monstrosity of his music.

It wasn't necessarily _bad _but after hearing his constant singing throughout the centuries, you quickly get annoyed with it and he was assuming she had a crush on that human Shirou which she totally did not!

She vehemently denied it and would continue to do so, for as long as she was the goddess of maidenhood.

"Now then, in all seriousness when is the wedding?" Apollo said with a perfectly straight face.

Even if this was just an arranged marriage to secure more power, he still wanted his sister to look her best regardless.

He remembered the marriage between Peleus and Thetis that every god attended. After all, it was a rare occasion for a human and a mortal to get together and especially married. Nobody had any objections to the marriage either in fact, Zeus, and Poseidon themselves proposed to give her to the King of Phthia

Even he was overjoyed at the marriage and wore his special Chiton that he only wore on incredibly special occasions. Artemis wore a magnificent silver dress that had heads turning too.

"There is no wedding and I'm not getting married to Shirou!" she denied with a bright red face.

"Oh, I didn't realize you were on a first name basis with him." Apollo teased.

"Stop your teasing Apollo, this is a serious matter. You know exactly why father proposed this too."

Apollo nodded gravely. "Yeah, we're doing this to secure more power so we can defeat the other Pantheons".

It was quite well known that the Greeks, despite their numerous heroes and legends, were the underdogs compared to the others like the Norse, Hindu and Celtic pantheons.

It all came down to how many people believed in the gods and that directly influenced how much power one Patheon would have.

They cling mostly off the Heart of the West and that was mostly why they hadn't faded. Shirou's power, however, could easily close the gap between the pantheons and perhaps even surpass it with his weapons.

His god-slaying weapon was but one example of this, and the fact that he could defeat a giant-despite said giant having had every advantage imaginable like skill, speed, and strength.

He would be lying if he said he didn't like to have power. _They _would be lying if they said they didn't like power.

They were just naturally a group of beings who enjoyed being in control of fate rather than the

Moirai.

Apollo shivered just thinking about the old knitting hags that played with their fate on a whim. He hoped they left him alone for the rest of eternity if possible.

Suddenly, he had an idea on what to do.

"Little sis, I have an idea." Apollo proposed and Artemis' brow raised questioningly.

"Remember how Little Lanta' decided her spouse?" Apollo grinned as he waited patiently for her to remember.

Artemis for the first time today, smiled.

**XxX**

Shirou didn't know what to think about, seeing the god of the underworld in his temporary home.

When he came to his senses, he first thought maybe the god had just found the wrong cabin but immediately perished the thought.

He was a god. There was no way he would get lost finding a cabin of all things.

But if it wasn't that then what? He didn't think he had anything that the god didn't have.

He wasn't an expert in Greek Mythology, but he _did _know that he was the richest Olympian and had more money than Shirou would even know what to do with.

"Had enough of your musing, boy?" Hades spoke to him with his rich yet deep and commanding voice.

Shirou grit his teeth as a wave of pressure washed over him and almost forced him on his knees. Hades looked amused at his struggle and the pressure suddenly vanished.

Shirou snuck a glance at the Helmet of Darkness that was on the table. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't simply trace the weapon, but he could still identify it.

_Suddenly, in his snowy world, a new hill suddenly formed that peaked above all others. Shirou walked along his snowy world_

Hades saw him observing his helmet and picked it up as it suddenly transformed a normal baseball helmet. Shirou blinked in confusion, seeing a powerful item turned into a mundane one.

"Now Shirou I suppose you remember me briefly from Olympus, so let's get down to business." Hades walked towards him as Shirou tried not to jump back in sheer reflex. He was sure the god had caught his muscles tensing as he suddenly stopped.

They were but seven feet apart.

"I've heard great things about you from the other gods so I figured I would go to you as I seem to have a little… problem in the underworld right now."

The way he said it sounds odd to Shirou. He had a feeling he was downplaying just how big the situation was but figured questioning someone who could literally drag you down to hell was a bad idea.

"Okay." Shirou said dumbly and he immediately regretted saying it as it made it sound like he didn't care.

If the god was offended, he didn't show it and continued on. "Unhappy monsters and spirits are rebelling in the depths of the underworld as we speak. Ever since the final battle, tensions have been high and since the defeat of Gaea they are finally starting to rebel."

Shirou frowned. He didn't know much about what exactly happened these past five years as Hephaestus was very vague on information, but he didn't expect it to be this bad. All he really knew was that Percy did _something _and saved Olympus so many times, he was offered immortality and refused.

He also knew that Hades was only recently redeemed as an Olympian and even had two children who were heroes in the eyes of the gods.

"So you want me to go in the Underworld and stop them?" Shirou said, looking for confirmation.

Hades only smiled sinisterly. "No, I want you to kill them permanently, so they never do this again"

Shirou wasn't too affected at having to kill monsters if they were truly innocent. He'd killed before, both human and non-human and had no qualms about doing so. Of course, he didn't like to kill and took no joy out of it and did it more as a duty like in the Holy Grail War.

Now, he had to decide on whether or not to help Hades exterminate a bunch of monsters or grudgeful spirits.

Luckily, they weren't human so he doubted he would come to regret killing them. But then again, it was clear Hades was just using him as a clean-up control as he was sure he could do it himself.

It was _his_ territory.

One thing that was holding him back was the fact that he still hadn't found the time to message Hephaestus.

Hades must have read his mind. "Hephaestus already knows you are safe. You should be glad, you're getting a day off from work"

"Well, if that's the case I suppose I'll accept. When do we go?" Shirou said hoping he didn't say _"Right now"_ as he still had this Archery match to attend to.

Hades checked his watch that was notthere before. "How about tomorrow at eleven p.m.?"

"Okay" Shirou agreed.

"Don't forget boy, I want to see you at the gates of the camp exactly on the dot. I don't like people who are late." Hades warned him.

Shirou frantically nodded.

Hades then stepped back and sank into… shadows? He couldn't tell as there was no trace he was even there.

"How does that even work." Shirou mumbled to himself as he stepped inside the shower to get rid of the smell of sweat and blood on him.

When he exited, he dressed himself in his usual white shirt and blue jeans along with his grey addidas he always loved wearing.

With that out of the way he traced a black glove to wear for practice and left to go meet up with Annabeth.

**XxX**

He eventually found the child of Athena leaning against the big house along with Percy who he suspected was her boyfriend.

When the two saw him, they waved him over and he walked over to them.

"Hey man, nice match against Thalia," Percy complimented which Shirou waved off. He felt he only won simply out of willpower and the fact that she was underestimating him for the longest time.

"It was nothing." Shirou downplayed, making Percy frown a little. Just as he was about to speak again, Annabeth interrupted him.

"As much as I love seeing this blossoming bromance, we should get going to that Archery tournament." Annabeth snickered making the boys scowl.

_What about what we discussed for like… ten seconds was bromance? __**(1)**_

Of course, he didn't speak that out loud because even he knew that you never get in a fight with a woman. He doubted demigod women were any exception with how fast Percy shut up when she spoke.

They soon arrived at the Archery-range that was overflowed with various men and women trying to compete. They gestured for him to stand in line with the other demigods, so he did and he listened as Chiron strolled to the front and spoke.

"Let us now begin the seven thousand annual Archery tournament, to determine who gets the special prize!" Chiron revealed, making the crowd whisper as they all wondered what it could be.

Shirou would be lying if he said he wasn't curious himself as he had no idea what it could be. Perhaps it was a trophy for someone to take with them?

He didn't care about winning and simply was there for enjoyment. He doubted he would win against children of Apollo whose father was _the_ god of archery.

'_Can't hurt to try.'_

Soon, golden particles formed in Chiron's hands and when they dispersed a bow was revealed.

It was an unnaturally large bow that was about Shirou height and was presumably all gold which amazed the audience. Any Archer worth their salt could tell it was a bow that had very little rivals.

"This here is a bow gifted to us, by the twins Archers, Artemis and Apollo. Its name is Tauropolos, a legendary bow that many heroes have wielded." Chiron revealed to them and they were all shocked with none more then Shirou the most. **(2)**

The bow was simply perfect in his eyes with the perfect height and looked like it could even be used for offense if need be.

While Archer's bow was fine, it was more of borrowed forgery then it was an actual bow and was more fitted towards shooting out swords and broken phantasms, rather than actual arrows.

This however, he could tell using structural analysis, was easily one of the best bows both he and Archer had ever seen before with no more than four surpassing it.

The one problem was he couldn't trace it.

No matter how hard he focused he couldn't copy it into his Reality Marble.

That was quickly becoming a recurring problem since he arrived in this strange city. He was rarely able to copy anything relevant as they turned out to be too high for him to trace and he would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling slightly dejected because of it.

Even though he couldn't trace it, he could still analyze small glimpses of the weapon and could tell it was made up of a metal that was neither Celestial Bronze or regular mortal material, it was something… better.

With newfound determination, he waited in line as the competition officially began.

The first trial was to try and hit an apple off a centaur named Grigora, who turned out to be too fast for even him to track down. They also had to use a standard bow given to them by Chiron to not cheat.

A few people managed to shoot the apple of the arrow, but more people were failing then they were succeeding.

Finally, it was his turn as the centaur saw him, grinned, and sped around the area in ways Shirou couldn't even begin to track.

He grabbed an arrow from the quiver and nocked it onto the bow and went through his breathing techniques.

Everyone in the audience looked at him weirdly as he closed his eyes, drowning out everyone else. The only thing on his mind, his target.

He couldn't see his target even if he opened his eyes as he was simply too fast for the human eye to track.

At least that's what would be the case if he was an ordinary human or even a magus

However, he was not a normal human by any means and was only slightly above third-rate in magic. What he did have though was EMIYA's Clairvoyance and Eye of the Mind skill to guide him.

So even without seeing it his Mind's eye certainly did so he trusted his instincts and released the arrow.

When he opened his eyes, he'd hit the apple dead-on as the arrow was right in the center and not a centimeter off. He would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised his instincts worked.

He wasn't the only one surprised as the campers and most importantly, the children of Apollo looked shocked that the camp's guest did it with his eyes closed of all things. Even Chiron was startled by that. He was informed he was a swordsman and not a bowman

Chiron gained his bearings first and coughed "You pass. Well done." Everyone applauded Shirou as he exited the stage, scratching his neck sheepishly.

In total, forty-seven contenders made it out of the eighty that participated. Some with more ease then others while some made it by the skin of their teeth.

"Now that more competitors have been eliminated, we can move onto the next challenge. Over on that large tower right there, there is a target that you guys should see."

Shirou reinforced his eyes and could see the target perched onto the leg of one of the supporting beams.

It was hardly visible even to him so he wondered if anyone else could see that far and turns out, most of them could pretty easily. He could see some of them competitors squinting their eyes to try and see it with no success.

It was quite easy to tell that _they _would be the first ones out.

Those who made it past the first round through sheer luck would have a harder time as they had to consider air resistance, random animals that liked to fly by, and just sheer strength.

He could see a child of Aphrodite who somehow made it past the first round. She clumsily held up her bow and shot even more clumsily.

The arrow hit a dove but somehow, the dove managed to swat it towards the target, hitting a bullseye.

She looked so happy to have made it, she jumped for joy alongside her other sisters as they all squealed and gossiped like every other child of Aphrodite did.

Shirou would dispose of his long-time shirt that all Shirou's loved if he ever found a child of the love goddess who _hated _being girly.

Fat chance…

It was clear to everyone watching that her mother had a play in this and manipulated the dove to hit it correctly.

_Of course, the gods are watching and are manipulating the challenges._

He didn't like it but, in the end,, couldn't do much about it without earning the ire of not only the campers but possibly the gods.

Anytime he imagined a child of Aphrodite getting their hands on such a beautiful bow it filled him with such anger that it surprised him.

He wasn't prone to anger unless it had to do with Miyu and the only times he'd ever shown it was during his brief fight with Shinji-or the husk that was left of him anyway.

_He was probably a coward in life too._

He knew if any of the children of the love goddess got it it would at best, be hanged up against a wall and never touched again and at worst, would simply be used for trivial things like cutting up items.

He knew he _had _to win this. There were no maybe's on Shirou Emiya's mind; it was absolute certainty.

"Shirou Emiya!" His name was called, and he walked up to the stage where he had to stand and went through his normal procedures.

Once again, calling on EMIYA's skill with the bow and manifesting it within him as the Counter Guardians influence took place.

People were obviously whispering having seen his already half-tan half-normal skin turn tan even more. He ignored it however and he erased everyone, including the teacher himself from his mind.

When shooting a bow, distractions would leave you to miss and a miss was not good. He had only one shot to pull this off and if he failed, then the bow is not his.

He held out his bow at the exact angle the target was at and Reinforced his eyes so he could see it perfectly, as he grabbed an arrow from his quiver.

Closing his eyes, he breathed calmly.

Then he opened his eyes and noticed something _different _about the atmosphere. The wind, although unnoticeable to the trained eye, was altered in a way that he wouldn't have noticed had he not reinforced his eyes.

He widened his eyes in realization '_The gods are trying to get me to miss. Or at least some of them!' _

He wasn't going to let gods control him, he was going to make this shoot and shoot he did.

The shot sped off towards the target as many obstacles tried getting in his way. When a dove tried to intercept it, it was blown off course he smiled as he saw some of the gods counteracting the other ones.

It was now a test of fate. Fate was what his entire life was about.

It was fate for him to spot Miyu in the almost torn down house.

It was fate for him to win the Grail war.

It was fate for the class card that was empty so he could become his own self, Counter Guardian EMIYA.

This situation was no different.

The results were decided.

_**THWICK!**_

He hit a straight bullseye clean on.

The crowd went wild and were screaming so loud, he was glad he hadn't reinforced his ears or else they would have been broken for sure.

Who would have thought demigods had such loud lungs?

He would be lying however, if he said he didn't enjoy the praising from the other demigods. It made him feel important and special.

As he exited the stage, Chiron patted him on the shoulder. "You're going to become something big."

The third-rate magus didn't know what to say and just kept walking to join the other contestants who gave him pats on the back that hurt a lot more than it should.

'_Definitely going to be cramping tomorrow.' _he winced as he felt the pain.

One person walked up to him. "I didn't think you would get it this far man" Will said as he also patted him on the back.

"Thanks." He said lamely.

"Not many people can manage what you did. Not even sons of Apollo, you really have some talent there." Will complimented him.

"Really?" Shirou said in disbelief. He'd figured that since they were half-gods, they would be able to shoot as easily as breathing.

Will nodded. "While we sons of Apollo are _good, _we aren't that good. Some rare children of Apollo would display abnormal talent, but they are a dime in a dozen. Like I told you, I'm more of a healer then I am an archer though I'm at least decent with the bow"

Shirou nodded, understanding the blond.

"But tell me, how did you get so good with the bow?" Will asked. The others grew curious too and looked at him for answers.

Shirou grew uncomfortable with all the extra attention but answered anyway. "I always had a natural talent with the bow. And I had a little friend guide me." Shirou said vaguely

"Really?" Will said putting a hand on his chin. "For a normal human to shoot better than a son of Apollo is insane"

He didn't mention how he basically cheated using someone who was more experienced than him.

He had no illusions that if he didn't have Archer's Eye of the Mind and Clairvoyance, however low it was for him he would have lost.

He simply did not have that sort of raw talent that demigods had and he doubted he would actually display that kind of talent.

He'd seen many children of Apollo effortlessly shoot the target while he had to have assistance in the matter.

"Austin Lake." Chiron called out and Shirou instinctively snapped out of his thoughts as he thought it was him.

He knew that Austin was exceptionally talented as he easily won the first trial with ease and he knew he would get it this time.

And like he predicted, he managed to hit a bullseye with barely a side glance. The crowd went wilder then they were with him and he could hear everyone praising him for his skill.

It was now obvious. He would be one of the biggest challenges in this ordeal.

Will must have seen his troubled look as he spoke. "He's Austin Lake, a son of Apollo who is on the top five archers in camp rivalling even the Hunters of Artemis. One time, he'd shot an arrow and it reflected off the walls to hit the target."

Shirou grimaced. If he was telling the truth, which he probably was, he would have a tough time winning.

Luckily there was now only twenty people left so things were quickly becoming tense. It was anyone's game at this point, with everyone equally as skilled.

After thirty minutes, they went through multiple trials like shooting down the tiniest of objects to intercepting someone else's arrows. It was so difficult in fact, that there were only ten people left.

"Now that the numbers are quelled, we will now do one last match. This time it's going to be the hardest yet." Chiron said before adding "And the smallest."

The participants grew uneasy at his words. They'd been shooting down things for so long; their hands were starting to hurt. Especially Shirou's who'd been using Archer's knowledge.

Chiron reached into his pocket and pulled out a drachma which everyone stared at confused.

"This is a drachma coin and your final task is to shoot this down. From a hundred meters away." Chiron announced as the crowd grew in frantic whispers.

Soon the ten people tried shooting it down.

Those numbers quelled to nine

Then to five

Then finally, it was his turn.

"Shirou Emiya."

He stepped up to the stage and got ready to do his best. He would try the hardest he could to shoot it but was starting to doubt even himself.

He went through all his procedures again, and right when the drachma floated up, he shot at it so hard, a shockwave erupted that almost forced him off his feet, as it sailed towards the floating coin.

Forty meters, twenty meters, ten meters.

It hit, striking the center.

And the crowd went wild.

"I-I did it?! I actually hit the shot?!" Shirou said in disbelief as someone retrieved the coin and held it up for all to see.

Chiron walked up. "You are the only one to have completed this challenge and as such, you win the prize Tauropolos" Chiron clapped first as everyone joined him.

While others stared in disbelief. He'd beaten… Austin, one of the greatest Archers they had impossible?

Austin, being a good sport, clapped for the human as he had to admit, he was impressed as while he did hit it, it didn't go through and simply bounced off it.

Chiron grabbed the bow and held it like it was worth a million dollars and Shirou would have bet possibly even a billion. Not like he'd ever sell it.

It was easily a divine construct of about A+ if he'd have to guess.

When the centaur gave him the bow he instantly felt a connection to it. Like he'd missed his entire life without this weapon. It felt exactly right to him.

The bow shrunk so he could hold it properly too, and as he pulled back the string of the bow to see how sturdy it was, a magical arrow manifested in it.

Shirou stared in amazement as it was easily an A-ranked attack before he gained his bearings and dislodged the arrow from the bow to not cause a scene.

"Let's give one more Hoorah to Shirou!"

"HOORAH!"

He felt guilty for using Archer's memories but that instantly washed away as he rubbed the golden bow.

'_It's beautiful. The design isn't too over the top but it's right.'_

Shirou walked off the stage as he drowned out everyone else's cheering and just stood there admiring the bow.

_Wait… w-who's mana is it taking? _

He couldn't feel his own mana draining from the attack, so he wondered where it was taking mana from, if not his own.

He couldn't continue his thoughts however, as Percy and Annabeth walked up to him smiling proudly.

"You did really well," Annabeth complimented, and Percy nodded in agreement.

"It was nothing" He said before realizing how cocky he sounded saying that. They ignored the statement in favor of looking at the golden bow.

"That's a really good bow. I can't believe the twin archers made it" Percy said admiring the beauty of the bow.

"I agree, even though I'm more a dagger person myself, I can admire the design of the craft and can tell it's not made of any material I know of"

"Yeah, I'm going to be taking real good care of this weapon." And he was telling the truth too, he would always keep this by him, and make sure nobody stole it.

"Anyway, today in lunch, there is a feast today. I'm going to head over there; you can come if you wish" Percy informed him as they said their farewell.

Shirou went back to his cabin and almost immediately crashed into the bed.

'_Archer's influence… it's starting to become a problem' _

His circuits were throbbing from him pushing himself to new limits. Powers that weren't supposed to be used yet, were being used too much.

He would be lying if he said he regretted it though, as he earned himself this new bow which would greatly help in his quest.

He unconsciously clutched it tighter as he took off his shoes and fell asleep almost instantly.

All without noticing the moon shining on him.

**XxX**

Heracles would be lying if he said he didn't feel a grudge towards one Shirou Emiya.

After all, he'd beat him and utterly humiliated him by walking away and not finishing him off.

He'd recover of course, and with the gentle tending of his wife, Hebe, goddess of youth, and he was back in full condition and there were no reminders of the attack.

At least not physically but mentally that was a different story.

He swore on his name that the next time he fought the wizard or magus or whatever he called himself, he would be using all of his gear including his legendary bow and hydra arrows.

He knew it was partially his fault for underestimating the human and that's what caused his downfall, but how was he supposed to know that a mere mortal had the power to injure him, a god!

Maybe next time, he would just straight-up go in divine fo-

"Heracles." a voice uttered from the darkness of his cave. He looked towards the owner of the voice as the person stalked up to him.

She had long golden-blonde hair that was put into two twin tails and ocean blue eyes that had such depth even Heracles was alarmed, she also had on armor on one hand while her legs were fully armored and she had red markings around her body.

She strolled towards him in a calm and almost… arrogant fashion yet it gave off a sense of intimidation.

"You've completed the task given to you, saved Olympus from ruin multiple times and are known as the greatest" she stated as she stopped "Yet, a faker defeated you in but one sweep no?"

Heracles' anger boiled to a maximum "You know who I am and yet you would come into my domain?!" the entire room shook from his voice, yet she was unaffected and remained impassive.

"God for naught, as the faker defeated you. He got away last time, but next time that won't be the case. For now, you shall entertain me like the jester you are"

Golden portals suddenly appeared behind her back and weapons appeared from within the portal.

Heracles summoned his pelt which tied around his waist and covered his head. He could observe with but a glance that the weapons were strong, possibly strong enough to pierce his hard skin, so he was taking no chances.

"I'll have your head!" he said as he charged towards her and the battle began.

**A/N: And that's it! Capped off at 6k words which is the longest so far, as I felt you guys deserved it for showing me so much love. **

**(1)- If I get past 200 reviews, 1,000 favorites or followers I'll make it Percy x Shirou, jk. Maybe.**

**(2)-Shirou won the bow Tauropolos which I stole from Atalanta, but since Artemis gave it to her, I felt it was appropriate and yes, I know it's different from the fate version, and that's for a good reason, that reason is because I said so xD.**

**I decided Shirou needed an upgrade because he's an underdog compared to the other demigods and especially gods, so it only made sense in my opinion. You'll see the functions of the bow later-on and trust me, it won't disappoint. **

**Lastly, Heracles runs into mysterious blond women, but we all know who it is. I might show the fight, maybe not, it depends on what you guys think.**

**Also, definitely lastly, if you guys have any questions, I'll answer them next chapter which is going to be a QnA so yeah.**

**Until next time, wrath**


	17. Chapter 17 Darius

Aegnus Óg would have growled in frustration if it wasn't unfitting for a love god like himself. Not like there was anyone accompanying him right now but it was only his pride that was stopping him.

All his plans were falling apart at a rapid pace that he had to wonder where exactly he went wrong.

He sent that fool, Balor that he revived just for this occasion. Of course, he turned out to be so useless, his wife would have easily done better.

Not that she was weak or anything, but she usually takes a more… motherly approach to things like this that it wouldn't fit this situation at all.

That wouldn't do because he wanted results and fast. He needed to know why he felt what he did and until he figured it out it would constantly bug him.

He, of course, had a familiar that was in the form of a white bird, spy on the battle from afar as to not be spotted since the goddess Artemis was accompanying the boy and would have spotted him easily.

Despite the results, he learned a lot about his opponent and his capabilities and to be fully honest, it only brought greater mystery to him.

Throughout the fight, he displayed some type of ability that allowed him to create or summon weapons that all have varying types of abilities.

Now, normally that was nothing special when in comparison to some of their own demigods who also boast spectacular power.

It was an issue because he was using weapons from their pantheons, one of them being the weapon Areadbhar which belonged to his fellow deity, Lugh.

He didn't know if he knew about that but if he didn't, he would quickly inform the war god all about it.

The god could be many things including cruel, arrogant, bloodthirsty but also kind, humble it really depended on who exactly you were.

The former usually was presented to the former while the latter was to people who knew him well.

And 'well' for gods meant centuries.

He was one of the few gods you didn't want to get on the bad side of because he would easily kill you with but a thought.

Having fought the god multiple times (where he lost every time) he grew to respect him and while they did have a very tense relationship back in the day, they got along eventually and even teamed up when things benefited the two gods.

This situation was one of the prime examples of times they would join in order to achieve a common goal.

Before he could teleport to Lugh's castle, which was in another dimension, a portal appeared making the Aengus tense up until he saw who stepped through it.

A middle-aged man was wearing a black long-sleeved shirt along with black baggy pants. He had his hands casually in his pockets as if he was certain nothing would harm him or _could _harm him.

"Darius."

Seeing him the man known as Darius nodded. "Aengus. I'm sure you saw the results of that battle."

How could he not? He was sure any god, minor or major could sense the massive influx of power that went off in the forest.

The man was obviously playing coy like he always did to try and get under his sleeves.

"Yes. I witnessed the fight from one of my familiars." he stated.

Darius, like every time he came in his house, sat down on his couch in the exact spot that was reserved for _him _and kicked up his feet like he owned the place.

It annoyed him to no end and yet he didn't do anything about it because the man was useful. Too useful in fact, that killing him would just be a waste.

He'd heard the man's goal and had almost laughed thinking he was jesting. However, the boy or man was not clearly and kept up his stern facade.

_Humanity's future should be left up to us gods. If we should deem it necessary, why should that be stopped?_

However, his dream was not relevant to him or his plans. The human had appeared from seemingly nowhere and struck up conversation with him randomly.

He didn't even know _how _the boy knew he was a god. He was certain that his divine essence wasn't leaking.

At first, the Celtic god ignored the boy's words chalking it up to squabble that someone taught him until suddenly, the boy pulled out a card and muttered something like "Install"

After that, the god gave the boy his full attention seeing such a magnificent ability such as that.

Originally, the boy had been nowhere close to even his suppressed level but when he transformed into a black shadow figure his mana spiked and he was completely different in body language, tone and just sheer confidence.

And thus, they discussed, and he had to say he was impressed as to what the kid could do. Apparently the cards were called "Class Cards" which allowed one to equip a hero from legends.

He'd asked if his son, Diarmuid was in this "hero" card and he was answered with a positive. In fact, Cu Chulainn, their admitally strongest hero to date, Fergus the King of Ulster and even Fionn, from the Knights of Fionn.

When the one known as Julian uttered that he'd almost gone on a murderous rampage. Fionn was practically the killer of his adopted son having chased him out along with his lover, Grainne and even when it was all settled Fionn left Diarmuid for dead.

He immediately told Julian _not_ to ever use that card in front of him. The boy must have known his place and quickly agreed.

In other news, the boy claimed that the boy known as Shirou Emiya was the person who currently had copies of his spears Gáe Dearg and Gáe Buidhe.

Also, he not only had a copy of BOTH his spears but also his two swords that were given only to his son.

That was the biggest insult one could give a god. Not only did he steal all his weapons somehow, but not even ask for permission and make him look like a fool.

Thus, they prepared themselves and Julian informed him he gave Balor the card known as "Lancer" which held Cu Chulainn somehow.

And yet, even with Irelands greatest hero being thrown at the human he still managed to not die and even capture the giant along with Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

"See I told you. The boy known as Shirou Emiya would become a problem sooner or later and as I told you, he has your son's spears or at least a copy of it. But no, you didn't believe me" a mocking and almost amused voice said.

Aengus didn't need to turn around to know who it was. It was Darius, a personality of Julian as he said.

Despite him being a grown adult, he found the kid to be more appealing and he was more... professional. He on the other hand, kept giving his lovely wife looks that the love god didn't approve of.

"How was I supposed to know that anything you were spouting out was true?" Aengus said emotionlessly. He knew he couldn't show any emotions to this persona or else he would quickly take advantage of it.

Despite being a wizard or whatever, it was he was certainly crafty for a human. Reminded him of how he used to be when he was but a few hundred years old.

"Because I told you _all _about what he could do and yet you kept insisting that good ol Balor was enough." the man drawled out.

Aengus growled and pointed at the man ready to smite him. "Do not disrespect me like that again! I can kill you in over a thousand ways you sleeven."

Darius looked unconcerned infuriating the god more. "You're not going to do anything to me because you need me."

Aengus grit his teeth but said nothing. He was right and knew more about the target then he did. He could probably force the information out of the wizard but if there was one thing, he knew was that he probably had tricks up his sleeve like those portals.

"This is why I prefer to speak with Julian. He's a lot better to talk to then you."

Darius rolled his dark eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, what do you plan to do now that your 'trump card' is defeated?"

"Balor was never my trump card," Aengus cut in ruthlessly.

Darius simply waved him off. "Whatever, then what's your great plan of action now O' great god?"

"Don't give sarcasm. I am also a god of wordplay and so I can easily outwit you" Aengus said "But my plan is to contact my colleagues and tell them the deeds the human has committed. We're going to need all the help we can get if the boy is sided with the barbarians."

"Artemis huh" Darius frowned. He glanced down and clutched his chest as if expecting a wound to be there.

The love god pretended he didn't notice and nodded. "Indeed. Which means we need more allies. Where is that blonde-haired women from last time?"

One of the times they met up, Julian had brought an acquaintance. Now normally, he wouldn't have cared for such a thing, but it was the sheer amount of power she radiated.

She held divinity that felt very high but at the same time, not complete. It confused him to no end.

Despite not saying a word she managed to put off a more intimidating aura then even Darius. Perhaps it _was _the fact that she said not a word that was so ominous and mysterious.

"She's out right now on a mission." Darius said.

Aengus frowned.

The answer was too vague for the gods liking. Not knowing something made him only more suspicious. He would let it drop for now, but it would certainly be brought up again.

"I will talk to the gods about joining us. If we can get them to help us, we could easily fight off the Greeks and mobilize the boy." Aengus said.

Darius smiled creepily "That's the spirit! I shall also assemble my allies so we can fight against Shirou and the Greeks."

Aengus knew that his fellow gods weren't on great terms with the Greeks because a few centuries ago, an unknown demigod killed their sacred animal that the gods created to observe and pass judgement to humanity.

That put the two factions into constant arguing which usually led to both groups of demigods dying and neither side winning.

He was sure that if it ever came down to it, the Celts would pull through with their secret weapon they just recently finished.

The weapon would possibly turn the tides in favor of their Pantheon and would possibly give them enough power to rival even the Hindu's.

If their plan works out perfectly.

Darius then got up and brushed off the invisible dust on his pants. "Well then I suppose our business here is done."

Aengus only nodded.

"Next time I come over you should bring drinks" Darius suggested as a portal suddenly appeared and he stepped through half-way.

"And tell your wife I said hey." the man then looked thoughtful "And tell her to make those chocolate chip cookies again too."

With that, he left leaving the god alone.

When Aengus confirmed he was gone he scoffed.

'_Hmph, Caer only made you those cookies out of courtesy and nothing else.'_

The first time Darius came over along with his supposed partner, his wife was home and she insisted on making them something to eat.

They easily agreed and didn't even check to see it was poisonous (though it was not.) and devoured all of them.

He stood there slack jawed at their appetite as they easily went through multiple batches of cookies. Especially the blonde one, she ate like she hadn't eaten anything in years.

Julian on the other hand, loved it so much he shared some with his other form, Darius and thus began the friendship between Darius and his wife.

And he had to say he didn't like it. Not one bit.

"OOOO~ you are so in trouble now!" squealed a voice.

Aengus glanced towards the source of the voice. Its name was Labut a swan which is his spirit animal that mainly represents himself.

The god only sighed tiredly.

"I'm telling you, just do those chores now or lady Ibormeith will throw a fit." the swan warned with narrowed eyes.

"I know, I know, I'll do the chores right now." the god promised.

The swan looked satisfied. "Good." with that he waddled away presumably to soak in the large pool outside.

Aengus manifested a broom and started sweeping all the while wondering where he went wrong.

**XxX**

"Sis, you saw that? He actually did it!"

"Yes, Apollo I was watching with my own eyes." the voice replied with annoyance evident in her voice.

The one known as Apollo paid no mind to her feelings and kept prattling on about how the human known as Shirou Emiya managed to defeat everyone else in Archery.

Though if she was being honest, she was also silently impressed with his performance. Despite being at a clear disadvantage he managed to pull through and win the bow both herself and Apollo enchanted Tauropolos.

The bow itself had numerous abilities that weren't even passed down to Apollo's children or Artemis' hunters.

There were only a few exceptions, one being the hunter, Atalanta who held it for a few years before… unfortunate circumstances happened that made her relinquish the godly bow.

Ever since then, it was simply locked up in a very secure vault where nobody could touch it, not even the more powerful gods like Zeus, Poseidon or Hades.

Which made it a very big deal for them to finally decide to bestow it down for a half-human to touch or in this case… full human.

Normally, she wouldn't have been happy had it been a human or even another boy and yet she felt he earned it without cheating.

The same couldn't be said about the rest of her 'family'

Mainly Aphrodite and Ares who were trying to subtly help their respective children win the match with various means like doves getting in the way, the wind acting up or the sudden increase of strength a child of Ares would have.

She could only scowl at the love goddesses' attempts at trying to get her children to win. It was bound to fail in the end and if she had to, she would have personally stepped in to make sure none of her children received the bow.

"He also won the test." Apollo pointed out smugly.

Artemis had almost forgotten about their deal. They made a bet that if Shirou completely beat Apollo's own children and the other competitors she would 'heavily consider' going through with Zeus's request.

She sighed in defeat.

"Yes, yes we'll talk about that later." she said though she didn't want to talk about it. "Onto more important things I heard there was an uproar in the underworld right now."

Apollo nodded grimly "Yeah. The cause is unknown and the only thing we _do _know is that all sorts of monsters like the Fury's, hellhounds and other creatures are now turning on Hades.

"Knowing Hades, he's probably going to have a demigod, or something help him clear up the monsters." Apollo guessed.

The two then glanced at each other.

"You don't think that Hades would actually come to the camp just to ask for Shirou's assistance, right?"

Artemis looked unsure. "It's a possibility. Shirou has shown to be extremely capable and if he were to die there would be little to no consequences."

"I doubt father would approve though."

Artemis snorted "When does he _ever _approve."

They both laughed at that. There were very few times where they both equally laughed and had any sort of fun.

Artemis then got up earning a look from Apollo.

"I'm going to head back to the girls. We're hunting down a group of Stymphalian birds that are bothering some of the locals." Artemis explained.

Apollo nodded.

The Stymphalian birds were a group of birds that at first glance looked like ordinary pigeons that reside in trees but when they caught sight of demigods, nymphs or anything that has flesh, they attack violently and mend apart flesh.

"Guess that's good target practice for you and the ladies. Soon enough you should get on the level of me and Shirou." Apollo said with his infuriating smirk.

Artemis balled her fists violently. "You know full well that we are equals in Archery. I am heads and shoulders above Shirou."

It was true and they both knew that, but Apollo just liked to be annoying and stir up an argument as usual.

"I don't know about that…" Apollo said, putting a hand on his chin. "Shirou _did _shoot pretty effortlessly. Maybe you should take some tutoring from him."

"This is why we can't talk for more than five minutes," Artemis said before turning into an eagle and heading to the skies.

While she was flying away, Apollo shouted. "Tell the girls I said hey and to call me!"

Apollo could hear the squawk of the eagle that did not sound pleasant.

He wiped away a fake tear. "She's growing up so fast."

He then vanished in a flicker of yellow light.

**XxX**

When Shirou woke up he had to say that he almost jumped in shock seeing the golden bow that was almost glowing from the sunlight next to him.

Luckily, he managed to stop himself from making a fool from himself.

He then smiled as the memories came back to him full-circle. He'd participated in the Archery tournament that the camp held and had won by the skin of his teeth.

The prize was the bow that was apparently blessed by the twin Archer's named Tauropolos: Bow of Heaven.

Even now, he could only stare at the magnificent bow that he was currently grasping.

It didn't seem to have any way to shrink it or dispel it sadly, but that didn't make it any less awesome to him. He would just have to trace a holster or something that could fit the large bow.

He narrowed his eyes at it once more in the hopes of it suddenly appearing in the snowy world known as his Reality Marble. Of course, the results were the same as last time unfortunately.

Once he was done admiring the craft of the bow, he decided that he needed to get up and get the most essential parts of the day done.

"I'm getting lazy."

He felt even more reluctance to get up from this comfortable bed as he did last night. He didn't know what it was about this bed, but it seemed to draw him in and almost beg for him to go back to bed.

He chalked it up to the little amounts of sleep he'd had prior to arriving in this strange city.

Once he finally mustered the strength to get up, he went straight to the bathroom to freshen up and clean his messy hair that was sprawled all over the place like a bird's nest.

After that, he brushed his teeth, washed his face and took a fifteen-minute shower. Once he exited, he was dressed in a black and white jersey zip jacket along with his normal clothing.

The outfit he traced was weirdly enough familiar and yet different to him. He didn't know why exactly he traced the jacket, but he felt it was almost...necessary.

So, after grabbing his precious bow he left the cabin to get some breakfast. He was admittedly very hungry from all the energy he used during the Archery tournament and knew he was going to eat a lot.

While he was walking, he was given all sorts of looks. Some of them were waves and thumbs up from his performance yesterday while others were glares because he won, and they didn't.

He didn't feel pity for most of them, especially the Aphrodite children who blatantly cheated and the only reason they weren't eliminated was that nobody wanted to face the wrath of the love goddess.

He couldn't say he blamed them. Aphrodite would most likely force a man to make out with another girl even if the person did have a girlfriend. He doubted she was below doing dirty tricks like that.

It was best if he stayed out of her radar for as long as possible. Or even better; _forever!_

When he arrived at the lunchroom, he saw a group of campers waiting in line and he recognized a few of them.

Some of them being Percy, Annabeth, Jason and his girlfriend (who he believed was named Piper).

When they saw him, they all exchanged greetings between each other

"Hey, I'm Piper, nice to meet you in person." she said, extending her hand for him to shake.

He shook it softly and was surprised by the strength of her hands. "Hi, I'm Shirou. Nice to meet you too."

"I saw you in that spar against Thalia. You were pretty good." she complimented.

"Thanks, she was also a very good opponent and had me on the ropes a lot." he said truthfully.

He had no illusions he would have won had he not traced a high-level Noble Phantasm like _Mac An Luin. _

She was just as he expected as the daughter of Zeus. Fast, a quick thinker and all-around very powerful. And he still knew she was holding back and only used a low-tier lightning bolt.

_What if she used a full-powered lightning bolt on me? Would I have died on the spot?_

He wasn't afraid of dying per se but the thought of not seeing his sister once more made the thought less appealing.

"Yeah, Thalia is an extremely powerful demigod rivalling even Percy. Her powers as a hunter of Artemis only makes her better..." Piper went on.

He quirked an eyebrow at the statement.

"What do you mean her as a hunter of Artemis?'' he questioned. He hadn't heard anything about them getting any benefits.

"The Hunters of Artemis are of course blessed by the goddess to have enhanced attributes like strength, speed, vitality and the ability to never get sick. But most importantly they each have limited immortality and will never age," Annabeth stated factually. Completely jumping in front of Piper and Shirou's conversation.

Shirou stared at her in a mix of shock and disbelief. He didn't expect the group to be _that _powerful and become equipped with that much stuff.

Percy must have misinterpreted his expression as he whispered in his ear. "Annabeth is a know-it-all type of girl so that's why she's like that."

"I heard that!" Annabeth said, glaring at her boyfriend.

Percy smiled as he held up his hands in mock surrender.

Jason who was quiet until now laughed. "Percy can fight any monster yet when it comes to Annabeth, he's useless."

Shirou couldn't help but crack a smile at the statement. He'd never had many girl problems in Fuyuki and there was only one person who liked him like _that._

His father, however, told him about the horrors of women and how they could be when they were angry or even sad. He never really got what it meant since he was too young but now he felt he truly understood.

The group then grabbed their breakfast and decided to eat at a mini-park that was free for everyone to eat at.

Along the way, they all engaged in small talk which mostly consisted of Percy saying something stupid and Annabeth correcting him condescendingly making everyone laugh.

However, soon enough a topic came up that Shirou knew was going to come up eventually.

"So Shirou where are you from? I haven't seen anyone like you before" Jason asked him, making everyone else go quiet and look at him. He hated being on the spotlight the most as it always made him a little nervous.

"I'm from Japan and I'm from a town called Fuyuki," he answered

"Wow, how's Japan like? I always wanted to go there myself." Annabeth questioned.

"It's… fine. I had some great memories there and I met one of the most important people in my life."

The girls went "Awww" while the guys simply smirked.

"Oh, so you have a girlfriend? What's her name?" Percy asked with a teasing grin.

Shirou now had a decision to make. Tell them, and risk them telling their godly parents (though it was unlikely he thought) or don't say anything and just play along.

"Not a girlfriend, my adopted sister, Miyu." He didn't know why he just disclosed such important personal information, but it just spilt out naturally.

They stopped their Awws when they heard that it was _not _a love interest and was his sister.

"Oh, so why isn't she here with you then?" Piper asked him.

Shirou mentally sighed. This really was the million-dollar question that even _he _wondered. She probably would have made more friends than he did if she was here.

Best case scenario, she was safe in another world and away from the gods or anything else supernatural.

And with Angelica and Julian with him, he didn't have to worry about her because they were the only ones that wanted her.

Hopefully.

"She's away with some friends." he lied smoothly. They looked convinced. Except for Annabeth who narrowed her eyes slightly.

'_Of course, I can't lie to her because she's the child of the wisdom goddess!'_

He hoped she let it drop.

Luckily, she didn't say anything about his lie, but he could see her narrowing her eyes at him.

They then changed the subject to a more casual talk which he was glad for. He wasn't sure if he could keep talking about her without breaking down in front of everyone.

They then arrived at a hill they called "Half-Blood Hill", which was the highest hill which you could see everything from. There were two benches to sit on and Annabeth and Percy took one while Jason and Piper took the other.

They insisted for Shirou to join them on the bench, but he politely denied it. He didn't want to make it awkward with him standing there if they suddenly started making out.

Though, they didn't seem like the type of people to do that, but you could never be too careful.

"You said it's called Yukataka?" Percy questioned already stuffing his mouth with food.

They had asked about the culture of Japanese like futons, yukata, miso soup and other things he didn't mind disclosing as it was standard knowledge.

The conversation seemed to always bounce straight back to him no matter what subject they were on, but he didn't really mind that. They were simply curious about another country that none of them had been to before.

"Seaweed Brain it's called Yukata." Annabeth corrected with a sigh.

"Seaweed Brain?" Shirou parroted.

Annabeth looked almost sheepish before she answered. "That's a nickname I call Percy whenever he does stupid stuff."

Percy shot her a glare with no heat in it. She of course ignored it.

Shirou chuckled a little. They were truly as human as anyone else. He had half expected them to act more like the gods who were arrogant and prideful.

However, there was something that he'd been wondering for quite a while.

"Percy." the person in question looked at him along with everyone else "Back in our fight, you had impenetrable skin is that some perk of being the Son of Poseidon or something?"

Percy was a cut above the rest of the demigods. He had faster reflexes, was stronger and was all around better than half the campers. He briefly wondered if Percy was even human to begin with.

They all shared a glance before nodding.

"Percy has the Curse of Achilles." Annabeth stated.

Shirou's eyes widened briefly. He didn't expect something _that _big to be the case. He'd figured it was just some application of reinforcement or something bestowed upon him by the gods.

"The same Curse of Achilles that the hero did?" Shirou asked.

"The very same." Annabeth confirmed with a nod.

It did make sense he figured. But that still left the question of how you were even able to get it in the first place. As far as he knew, Achilles was tossed into the flames of Olympus by his mother Thetis in order to gain invincibility but his father, Peleus didn't agree fully with that idea and stated that Achilles needed to be at least partial human so he would be able to experience loss.

Did that mean Percy was given the same treatment? If so, why him and not everyone else with him.

"You must really be special then if you were given something so powerful." Percy mumbled something he couldn't quite hear but whatever it was, Annabeth weakly slapped him on the shoulder.

He wouldn't ask where the weak spot was because he doubted, they would disclose that information to him regardless. Not like he wanted to kill Percy of course, but it was simply curiosity.

Would it be located on the heel like Achilles was or maybe it was somewhere else even more difficult to locate.

He couldn't tell.

Soon enough, breakfast was over, and they all started walking to the gym to get their daily exercises out of the way.

Every morning apparently, they went to the gym located a little way away from the big house to stretch and get ready for the day.

Shirou decided to join them in their journey as he was sure he would need to stretch and work out the kinks in his muscles from yesterday.

"What are you doing today Shirou?" Percy asked him.

"I'm going on a quest that a god assigned me." he stated simply. He wasn't exactly sure if he could disclose such information, but the god never said he _couldn't_.

Not like he cared much what the god said.

The demigods all stopped in their non-existent tracks at his statement.

"Did you…just say you were assigned a quest by a god?" Percy asked in disbelief. Shirou looked confused at the demigod's expression.

"Yes, Hades came to my cabin yesterday asking for my help in the underworld." Shirou stated earning shocked looks from the group.

"Why would Hades request your help instead of a demigod's?" Annabeth said before realizing how rude that sounded. "No offense."

Shirou waved her off. "I don't know. When I got back from my fight with Thalia, he was just waiting there for me. I accepted mostly because I doubted, I _could _refuse."

Percy snorted. "That's true. I know from experience that whenever a god gives you a quest you have to do it. Even_ if _you don't want to."

Shirou wondered just how many quests Percy had been on to have that look on his face. It was a mix of weary, irritated and just plain acceptance.

Now he was starting to wonder if maybe there was a price for such a powerful curse. His father had told him that for every good thing that happens something bad must happen, to balance it out.

He couldn't have agreed more.

"What time do you have to go?" Annabeth's voice spoke snapping him from his thoughts.

"He said that at 11pm, I have to meet him at the gate." he repeated what the god told him.

"Are you allowed to have help?" Piper asked him.

Shirou looked unsure. He hadn't exactly specified if he could have other campers join him in this mission. Though he doubted the god of the underworld would make him fight possibly an entire army by himself.

"Well...he didn't say I couldn't."

"We'll help." Annabeth said and Percy gave a thumbs up. "But that means no gym practice today as we have to get ready."

Shirou was okay with that. "So, all of us are going?"

"No, quest rules mean that only three people can join in on a quest or bad things will happen." Annabeth stated sadly.

He didn't know how he felt about such a rule. As far as he could tell, they would all be detrimental for this mission especially Jason who could fly.

Jason must have read his mind because he spoke up.

"It's fine, me and Piper will be here if you need us. Though, if we aren't here then we are probably in Camp Jupiter." Jason said.

"Are you sure?" Shirou asked once more. He wouldn't mind the bad luck as he'd always had tremendous bad luck during life. What's a little more for a quest?

"Yeah I'm sure." Jason confirmed.

They then went their separate ways with Jason and Piper leaving to do their business while Percy and Annabeth followed him to the cabins.

Annabeth then made a gesture to stop when they were close enough to the cabins.

"Okay Shirou, me and Percy have been in the Underworld a few times, so we mostly know how to navigate it." Annabeth said in one breath before continuing. "I would suggest packing a lot of food and water because we might be there for an unknown amount of time."

"And we'll bring the other stuff that's needed." Percy added.

After that, Percy and Annabeth left to pack for tonight while Shirou went back to his room, bow still in hand.

He'd almost forgotten that the entire time he was out he was carrying it around. In a strange way it almost felt like a child to him. Angry when left alone but when with its parent or owner in this case, tamer.

In the end, he hoped the quest would be quick and easy to do. But if the underworld was anything like it was depicted of, things would not be that easy.

He gripped his bow tighter.

"I _need _to make it back alive."

**XxX**

**AN: So yeah, that's it for now. I wasn't exactly ready for them to head to the Underworld just yet so I set up some things and established some bonds between a few of the seven and Shirou. **

**Next Chapter we'll probably get to the Herakles and Angelica fight so ya'll can see how that plays out. It's anyone's game to be honest. You may think that Angelica will win because of Enkidu but who knows, that requires her to catch him xD.**

**Here's the QnA I promised.**

**WolfMan- Yeah, well I tend to do that a lot when I don't know what to do. Sorry but I'm kinda the type face-paced where one second, they are here and the next they are there. **

**NyaNyaCity-Thanks! I don't know who you think were buffed though I did make the gods more intimidating because I felt that they should not be nerfed for the sake of the plot. In the Titans curse, Atlas goes super easy on them for... reasons. **

**Ariadne Venegas- I don't know about the bow turning into a ring. Everybody does that so I kind of want him to have to carry it the old fashion way. **

**Rafafala- Not Gilgamesh lol. **

**Lastly, yeah I know I suck at dialogue but bare with me here. I really shine when there are action scenes but anywhere else… not so much.**

**Until next time, wrath.**


	18. Chapter 18 How to Drive a Car

Shirou would be lying if he said he wasn't anxious for the quest that was officially starting in a few hours.

He didn't have much to do in the way of television and electronics because electronics were banned from this camp. Apparently, using them would attract monsters somehow and so, only a select few people could use it sadly.

He did not let it deter him however and spent his time in his reality marble.

Scrounging through his snowy world he found quite a few interesting weapons and relics. Weapons were constantly being added to his reality marble that even he wasn't sure himself how much he had.

They simply just called to him whenever he needed them. They practically screamed at him to use them that it was almost overwhelming.

The only time he used every single one was when he was fighting Angelica and had used every single one that he had at that _time. _

All of those blades were ones he'd seen during his time in the Holy Grail War. Not only his own experiences during the monstrosity but ALL of his alternate selves' experiences.

Add on Gilgamesh's unlimited arsenal and that made for a scary number of swords. Sure, some of the swords he couldn't use because they had conditions and others were just plain useless for most situations, but the useful ones outweighed the less than greater ones.

But with great swords come great responsibilities. There was a chance that if he ignored a weapon it would fail him in his greatest time of need.

He walked around the snowy field, his boots digging into the endless snow. He occasionally pulled out a sword to inspect and if it was useful or not.

After searching for fifteen minutes, he arrived at a large hill that stuck out the most out of everything else.

On the hill he found a few weapons that were easily the strongest amongst all of his weapons.

One of them being Ig-Alima, which easily stuck out the most and was barely buried in the ground. He'd almost forgotten about the weapon that he somehow traced while facing Angelica. When she pulled it out of her gates of Babylon he remembered being so stunned and he'd almost given up just seeing the mere size of it.

Except, he remembered what he was fighting for and miraculously managed to trace the weapon even if it was hollow and was useless except for a glorified bridge.

Strangely enough, it was one of his only divine constructs.

He inspected another weapon that garnered his attention.

Caliburn, the sword in the stone.

Sword of Selection.

Wielder? Arturia Pendragon.

Compared to Archer, he had practically no affinity with the despaired king, having not met her during his own Grail war. He did, however, face the saber class card user, Zachary Ainsworth who was Julian's father.

Even without experience, Zachary still managed to put him on the ropes with just one swing of the sword.

He moved onto the next sword that was stabbed into the hill.

Gram, a sword used by the hero Sigurd and was said to be on par with Excalibur. But whereas Exclaibur was holy, Gram was a demonic weapon that only sought out destruction.

Unfortunately, he had nowhere near enough mana to even project such a powerful blade nonetheless call out its true name, making it useless for now. It would take Miyu-level energy to use at full power.

If only he wasn't such a third-rate magus.

As he ascended up the stairs he saw a few more notable swords like Galantine, Arondight and other swords that seemed to get even greater with each step up.

Just as he was about to reach the top of the hill, the blizzard that surrounded the mountain grew so large that he could barely see anything.

After a while of attempting, he eventually gave up realizing for some reason it did not want him up there for some reason. Which was weird since he'd never been denied access to a sword that was in his arsenal before.

Squinting his eyes, he could see a glowing sword that just screamed important. He couldn't make out what it was exactly, but he had a sneaking suspicion on what it was.

If he was right in his assumption that just raised a bigger question for him, why is it obscured? It made no sense for something in his arsenal to be hidden from view.

In fact, he could see other weapons up there that seemed even stronger than the other.

He felt an odd sensation flow through his body. He instantly knew what it was from experience, someone was waking him up from his meditation.

Instead of fighting it he let it take him over and the world collapsed bringing him back to reality.

"-Rou are you okay?"

"Shirou?!"

He jerked up surprising the onlookers and grabbed Tauropolos by reflex. Once he saw who it was, he relaxed himself.

Percy and Annabeth stood there with concerned looks sprayed across their faces.

"I'm fine, I was just… meditating." Shirou said getting up. "Is it time for the quest to start?"

Percy nodded. "It's technically 10:50 but I figured the god of the underworld would appreciate it if we went a little early." He then looked thoughtful. "I wonder if he has a little calendar set up for all the important events."

He was already dressed and hadn't taken anything off except for his boots. And everything that he was going to need was either in his Reality Marble or on hand.

Hades hadn't given him a time limit or even a rough estimate on how long it would take. Though the god didn't seem like the type to tell him something without being 100% certain.

They left the cabin, ready to say their goodbyes to their friends or in Shirou's case, acquaintances at best. In a way it was sort of sad.

However, unlike what he expected to happen, people were actually cheering for his success after hearing the details of the mission.

When he arrived in this strange land, he had no intentions on making any familial connections or anything of the sort. Despite that declaration, he went directly against what he said by often teaming up and establishing bonds.

Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Artemis, Piper, Hephaestus and Will. They were all just a few people he considered to be his friends.

He couldn't believe he was so foolish as to believe he had no connections.

They were now headed to the main gate of Camp Half-blood and since it was so late very little people were out to question their whereabouts.

The only people informed of the quest were Chiron, Piper, Jason, Will, Nico, Clarisse and a few other important camp members. If it got out that Hades couldn't control his domain, it would cause even more discord and tension between the other gods.

Shirou shook himself from his thoughts and inspected what the two brought with them. Percy had brought a bookbag and a case for a… guitar? It was odd to bring an instrument to somewhere as dark as the underworld, but he didn't voice his thoughts. They were more experienced with this life then he was.

When they arrived, they saw Hades himself leaning against the gate wall, idly floating four skulls.

"You came." Hades stated before frowning seeing his two friends. "And you brought guests. Hello, Jackson and Chase."

"Lord Hades." Annabeth said bowing.

Unlike Annabeth, Percy had no respect for authorities and simply acted casually.

"Hey."

Annabeth roughly elbowed at his disrespect. "Show some respect to him, Seaweed brain, he's a god!"

Percy ignored her and didn't bow. It simply wasn't in his nature as a son of Poseidon to kneel before his enemies unless there was a good reason too.

In some way, Shirou could respect that.

If Hades was insulted, he didn't show it. "Why is it that you brought two demigods with you? I don't recall saying you could bring anyone else."

"You never said I _couldn't _bring them you just said be there._"_ Shirou rebutted.

He knew trying to correct the god was a bad idea seeing as he could bring him to the afterlife probably without even blinking but if he was being honest, he wanted them here. He wasn't confident he could accomplish this quest by himself. Divine construct or not.

Instead of rashing out at him like he thought the god would, he did something he did not expect.

He laughed.

Such a laugh must have been unnatural for him as Percy and Annabeth looked at him concerned.

"I see someone's a smart ass." Hades scowled, wiping away the fake tear. "The last person to question me like that...well… he's not around to tell you."

Shirou seemed unaffected by the statement. His face was carefully blank.

"Hephaestus really did pick a good apprentice." Hades muttered. "I'll let your comment slide this time since your Hephaestus' apprentice but next time you won't be as lucky."

Hades looked at him with his abyss dark eyes. Shirou felt himself get lost in it. He could have sworn he saw skeletons walking around in the god's eyes.

Annabeth noticed the tension in the room and decided to try and settle it. She knew angering a god was the worst thing someone could do. Especially a demigod. If you're their child that was one thing but for one that was not it could end in trouble.

"Lord Hades, should we not be going right now? Your underworld is in terrible trouble and I believe the longer we stay here the longer your domain could be in danger." Annabeth said as calmly as she could.

Hades then glanced at her and she thought for a second, he would kill her. It wouldn't take much effort, just drag her under with her skeletons.

"You're right, child of Athena, time is of the utmost haste." Hades unexpectedly said. He then snapped his fingers.

A car suddenly appeared from out of nowhere. It was an extravagant piece of art being over seven meters in length with the color being midnight black and from a metal Shirou could identify. It also had skulls perched on top of the roof of the car.

They couldn't help but gawk at the sheer perfectness of it. It alone was something none of them could ever afford if they put their entire life saving into it.

"W-What is that car? There's no way a human can drive such a car, it's engine is too fast and its recoil would kill them!"

Percy whistled. "I wanna try out that car!" He inspected it's exterior. "My mom would love that for a birthday gift."

Suddenly, an image appeared in his hand of his mom rapidly driving down the highway, unable to stop the engine.

"On second thought, I'll pass." He said quickly.

"You've never seen this car before child of Athena because it's not on the market yet." Hades explained, smirking proudly. He then gestured to Shirou. "Your mentor Hephaestus made this for me a while back when I did him a favor. It's not going to be found out by humanity for another 200 years."

It made sense. Hephaestus was easily the smartest person he'd ever met and could probably create an entire tank from a vending machine if he felt like it. Half of the weapons the Greeks used could be traced back to the god of the blacksmith like the shield of Achilles, Harpe, Aegis and more.

It was really a miracle to get a chance to be the god's apprentice. Not many people were offered such a deal. It was said that he never took on apprentices and understood machines better than people. His crippled appearance also made most people shy away from him too.

Shirou knew though not to underestimate the god. He was easily in his top 5 people he never wanted to face in battle.

"I would just teleport you three to the underworld myself but if I do it would only get all those rebellious souls to get angrier for giving you guys a free ticket inside. Which is why this is here." Hades said, gesturing to the car.

They all nervously exchanged glances between each other. They knew they would have to face the worst enemy to date in New York: Traffic.

Nobody was safe from it, not even planes as new planes were always in the skies reporting everything they saw from the smallest of roaches to the most serious of crimes.

"I'll shall meet you at my mansion. You two remember where it is yes?" Hades turned towards the two demigods.

They nodded.

"Well then if you have no further questions I shall go." Hades said turning around.

"Wait, you forgot to get the driver?" Percy reminded the god.

Hades smirked. "I didn't forget, spawn of the sea god. All my forces are busy at war so one of you will have to drive. Goodbye." He then sank into the shadows.

They glanced at each other.

"I'm not very experienced with driving." Shirou went out and said first.

He'd been out driving with Kiritusugu sure, but he died before he could teach him. He hoped one of them knew how to drive.

"Uh, me neither. I'm pretty sure Annabeth doesn't know how to either." Percy said nervously.

Annabeth blushed. "I-I was going to start learning this year don't judge me!"

"Okay calm down, let's take turns seeing who can drive the best and go from there." Shirou offered.

"Sounds good." Percy nodded.

"Okay." Annabeth agreed.

**Ten minutes later... **

It was a mistake. Both Annabeth and Shirou thought at the same time. They had Percy go first naturally, assuming he would drive it as well as one would drive a ship, but they were horribly wrong.

From the second he got into the car he had no idea what he was doing. He was wildly pressing buttons like the air conditioner, windshield washer, brakes and everything else he could find like he was in a video game.

When he finally figured out how to drive it, he kept bringing it into reverse and couldn't figure out how to drive straight.

"He's hopeless when it comes to anything that isn't fighting." Annabeth deadpanned.

"I can see that."

"Percy, pull over!" Annabeth yelled to the frantically driving Son of Poseidon.

If Percy heard her, he didn't answer.

"AHHH, how do I pull over? I think I'm getting motion sick Annabeth!" Percy exclaimed, somehow now spinning around in circles.

Annabeth facepalmed. She didn't seem too surprised by this, like it was a common occurrence so Shirou said nothing.

"D-Do you want me to help him out?" Shirou asked.

Annabeth looked surprised. "How can you stop him?"

Shirou didn't answer and instead walked forward towards the rapidly speeding car, ignoring Annabeth's warnings to stop.

Shirou closed his eyes to drown out everything.

"Trace On."

Chains manifested into his hands. They looked like nothing special except for the fact that they were midnight blue and were glowing strangely enough.

"What are chains going to do against a speeding car moving faster than 60 km?" Annabeth questioned.

Shirou ignored her and spun the chain around to gain some momentum. Once he was certain it would throw far enough, he let it go and it easily wrapped around the tire of the car.

Then with all his strength Shirou pulled.

"Bind, Vazba!" the chains glowed brighter than ever before and suddenly the car went to a complete stop.

Unfortunately, Percy who forgot his seatbelt flew out of the seat and through the window.

"Percy!" Annabeth said, running over towards him.

The person in question weakly held a thumbs up. "I'm fine Anna...Annabeth. I have to admit out of all the titans, gods and monsters, this easily takes the cake."

Annabeth weakly punched him in the arm. "Stop being so dramatic and get up, I know that didn't hurt much."

"It's not my fault you _blew _me out of my seat." Percy joked.

Shirou facepalmed. It looked like if Percy ever became a god it would be the god of bad jokes. It looked like Percy was not going to be-

His eyes suddenly widened remembering something.

"Guys." Shirou called out.

"I told you to stop that corny joke phase you're a grown adult now Percy." Annabeth said sternly.

"Hey."

"Take a joke Annabeth, we need a little bit of laughs before we go to the underworld where our worst enemies are residing." Percy shivered.

"Hey!"

"I know that but-"

"HEY!" Shirou yelled, getting both to look at him. They'd never seen him scream before, so this was new to them.

"What happened?" Annabeth asked.

"Look at the windshield," Shirou said, gesturing towards the glass Percy broke, flying out of the car.

Both looked shocked seeing it.

"W-What?! Percy you idiot! You broke the glass and now he's going to KILL us!" Annabeth frantically scolded him.

Percy to his credit, looked just as downtrodden. "Maybe he has insurance? Like a good neighbor, Statefarm is here?"

"More like death is here." Shirou jokingly said.

Their quips did nothing to settle the tension in the environment. None of them could afford to replace the gods' windows with Shirou not even in the same state and Percy and Annabeth just being too broke. Even if they did have enough money it wasn't like they could go to a car repair shop and say they needed it done pronto or else the god of the dead would kill them.

"Okay we can work with this." Annabeth said mostly to herself. "Hades is named the Rich One after all, so he has loads of money, this should be nothing to him."

"Wait a second." Shirou suddenly said, getting their attention. "Look at the window, it's repairing itself."

Indeed, it was. The scattered glass shards were now floating up and forming back into the car. Soon enough, it looked like nothing even happened.

They breathed a sigh of relief. They wouldn't have to take a detour after all. It made sense that Hephaestus wouldn't half-ass a car and would make it more durable than that.

"Group decision to never let Percy into the front seat?"

"Agreed." Shirou said instantly.

It was too close of a call for them. Now the decision was left between himself and Annabeth. In truth, he wanted the daughter of Athena to drive as she was leagues smarter and could learn faster than he could.

He was many things, a cook, magus, brother but he was not a driver.

Annabeth went to drive next, and she did leagues better than her boyfriend did, at least knowing how to start the thing and how to drive forward.

"I see." Annabeth said, gray eyes rapidly scanning the car. "It's just like computer programming, take it slow and easy and sooner or later you'll get there."

"She's a big nerd." Percy whispered to him.

In no time at all, she had learned how to drive expertly, like she was born to do it.

It amazed the magus how fast she learned it. It had only been about ten minutes of her driving around to get the hang of it.

She then parked the car and rolled down the windows.

"So, do I win?" She said smugly.

"Yeah." Shirou said easily.

"W-What're you going to let her win so easily, you haven't even tried to drive yet!" Percy said waving his arms around dramatically.

"I can already see that she's way better than me so there is no point competing. We need to get there before he gets mad at us." Shirou reasoned.

"Good point." Percy relented.

They then all got in the car with no further arguments and were now off before any of the camp members could come.

"Okay so where are we going?" Shirou asked Annabeth.

"Forty-one hours." Annabeth said with a straight face.

Shirou's eyes widened comically. "F-Forty one hours? That'll take too long!"

"Your right." She agreed. "If this was a normal car that is."

As she said that the car's wheels retracted, and the car started to hover like your stereotypical futuristic car.

"Hang on!" She said grinning.

"Hold on Annabeth, you know how Zeus is with me getting in his domain!" Percy said, grabbing onto Shirou for protection much to his dismay.

"Since I'm his granddaughter he shouldn't have any problems letting me in the skies!" Annabeth said, going faster and breaking the sound barrier.

Shirou was amazed at the speed of this vehicle. At the rate they were going, it wouldn't be long till they hit Los Angeles.

He just hoped she didn't crash the car before they arrived there.

**XxX**

"My lady, the two demigods and the human have taken to the air as you predicted." A man stated, kneeling respectfully before a figure.

"That's good, are you still tracking them?" The figure who was a lady questioned. She was sitting on a throne with her legs crossed.

"Y-Yes I took my eagle form and watched them… struggle to drive the car before they finally learned how to take to the air. At the rate they are going they will be here in a mere four hours"

It was certainly interesting seeing a car that could break past Mach 10. No doubt the work of Hephaestus. As far as he knew, humanity had yet to evolve that far.

His mistress was not worried in the slightest. In fact, she seemed almost glad that they were going to appear. He could never tell what exactly she was thinking at times, but he'd served his master faithfully for years and would follow her orders without question.

He was her bodyguard, butler, whatever she wished.

"I'll send some pets for them to deal with for the time being. Don't want to make it so easy, wouldn't you say so, Allagi?"

"Yes." He said simply.

"I want you to also intercept them. I need a little time until I can officially start my plans. They would only get in the way."

"I understand."

"Then go, my ghost and when you return, give me one of their heads, still alive and all." She said sadistically.

**XxX**

"Annabeth, can you turn on the radio?" Percy requested, trying to fill the awkward silence that filled the car.

His girlfriend did as requested and turned on the radio.

~We're all going to die! We're all going to die~~ We will burn in hel-

"Change the channel." Percy deadpanned.

The music only made the nervousness of the three increase. Shirou's expression was as blank as always but inside he was just as anxious.

Annabeth changed the channel again.

FALL~~~~ TO HELL~~ WE GO, HOME. NO GLORY FOR THE WEAK~~

"Again."

~So choose your last words, this is the last time.

'Cause you and I, we were born to die.

"I think we should turn off the channel all together." Shirou suggested.

"Good idea." Annabeth agreed.

"So, are you going to tell me what that guitar case is for?" Shirou finally asked. He asked mostly to break some of the tension that was in the room.

"In the underworld there is a gate called the Doors of Orpheus where we must play music to open up the door." Annabeth explained.

"Yeah G-man did it with his flute last time but since he isn't here, we have to play something else."

"You can play the guitar?" Annabeth asked, surprised.

"While you were up on Olympus, I had to find a hobby. Guitar just happened to be my natural talent." Percy said proudly.

"Why didn't you tel-"

"There is an eagle coming towards us right now and it doesn't look friendly!" Shirou yelled, pointing to the eagle that was ethereal and obviously not normal.

"Is this the lightning god's doing?!" Annabeth questioned, steering the car to the side to dodge a beak attack.

Shirou didn't think so. Zeus would have simply struck them down with a lightning bolt or sent them down. He was also pretty sure the god had plans for him, creepily enough.

If it wasn't him though then that meant somebody else was actively trying to stop them from getting there. Chances are that the person who was currently attacking is also on the side of their quest's enemies.

"Shirou, can you snipe them down for me?" Annabeth requested.

Annabeth then pressed a button and the roof of the car opened up.

This would be a good test for his bow. He hadn't tested its full capabilities yet and it looked like it's first test would be this eagle.

Shirou drew the string and a golden arrow was already at the ready. It seemed to take from an outside source of mana that was not his.

It felt just as natural as his normal bow. So, it wasn't very hard to do all his usual procedures.

TWOOP.

An arrow shrouded in golden light was released and headed for its target, the eagle. The eagle in question noticed the arrow flying at him at high velocity and swerved out of the way to dodge it. However, the projectile wasn't done and turned back around at even faster speeds.

Soon the eagle had no choice but to dive down or else be killed. Just when the eagle thought he was safe from the projectile; the arrow was right in front of his face making him widen his eyes in shock and an explosion accompanied it.

He hadn't expected the arrow to be that powerful. He was originally going to just shoot one as a warning to whatever was attacking them but the arrow moved on its own accord.

But Tauropolos _did _live up to the hype that it was accompanying. It made him wonder what anyone else would do with such a bow.

Percy and Annabeth who were watching were now looking at Shirou with wide eyes. Just a single arrow managed to kill the eagle that could move past Mach 1.

They had no time to celebrate however, as a blue beam of light suddenly shot at the floating car, leaving them no time to dodge.

"RHO AIAS!"

Shirou projected one layer of Rho Aias to protect them, the attack tried to break through for a second until it dissipated in the face of the mighty shield.

They then saw that it was the same ethereal eagle except it was burnt like charcoal and in worst condition, but still very much alive.

The eagle then screeched, opened its mouth and a beam of light formed inside of it.

Shirou now stood on the roof of the car. He was confident in Annabeth's driving enough to not fall to his death.

A golden aura soon surrounded Shirou as he felt the energy from the bow seep into him, strengthening him.

"Bring it." He challenged the eagle.

The eagle took the challenge in strides and in a flash of blue light his wounds were now gone. He was also in another form, a firefly that was barely noticeable.

'_He can transform into different forms other than an eagle. A shapeshifter.' _

That was very informative. But it also brought up the question as to why he didn't just constantly transform into different forms.

More testing would be required before he could make an accurate assumption it looked like.

The bow must have read his mind as four arrows manifested onto the string of the bow.

TWOOP! TWOOP! TWOOP! TWOOP!

The now glowing firefly managed to swerve out of the way of most of the shots because of its small frame. The ones it didn't, fazed right through it.

It then changed back to an eagle right before his eyes.

"Annabeth, can you move the car to the right?" Shirou requested.

"Uh sure, I don't know what you're planning though." Annabeth steered the car a little to the right.

Shirou then shot ten arrows this time, all missing their mark completely.

"What is up with your aim Shirou? You were doing so well before but this time you weren't even close to hitting it." Percy said, grabbing his shirt.

Annabeth wasn't as rash as her boyfriend and simply gave him a look. Not just any look, a knowing look.

Percy noticed this too and spoke "Why are you guys exchanging looks? What don't I get?"

Shirou sighed. "Look at the angle we're positioned in." Percy looked up at the sky and saw that they were aligned with the arrows Shirou 'missed'

Seeing him not getting it Shirou explained, "I had Annabeth move to the right so that we establish the four corners method, blocking the enemy and covering up all sides so that he cannot escape."

"Look for yourself." Shirou pointed.

Indeed, the arrows were now shooting from all of the firefly's side so it would have nowhere to go but straight ahead which was where they were waiting for it.

Percy noticed this and had sparkles in his eyes. "Wow you're the smartest person I know!"

Annabeth loudly coughed. "Excuse me?" Her arms were crossed, something all girls did when they were about to start scolding a man.

"I mean the _second _smartest person I know." Percy quickly corrected, holding his hands out in front of him.

"Mhm, that's what I thought." Annabeth said, smirking.

Shirou almost instinctively tuned them out. At this point, he knew that it was best if he left them be.

He glanced at the window where smoke from the explosion gathered. He was sure whatever it was was dead.

That's why he was caught by surprise when a large ethereal gorilla suddenly slammed into the car, sending it down at high velocity to the ground.

"W-What?!" Shirou said in shock. He was sent tumbling off his seat.

"What just hit us right now, an elephant?!" Percy questioned, looking around frantically for signs of an attack.

"Whatever it is, it's bringing us down and fast. At this rate we're going to all crash." Annabeth said, trying in vain to steer the super car.

There was very little he felt he could do right now. The gorilla was gone and he doubted he had any swords that could slow all their falls. Though, he had a feeling they would survive regardless because of their demigod physique.

But that still left _himself _in trouble.

_Just when we're about to hit Los Angeles this stuff happens. I swear it must be my bad luck affecting this whole mission. _

"I KNEW WE SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT JASON!" Was the last thing Percy said before they crashed, straight into a mountain in a large explosion.

**XxX**

Angelica could finally say that she had underestimated her opponent and was now paying the price for it.

Her fight with the god Heracles she thought would be a quick one. Simply overwhelm him with a bunch of swords and if that doesn't work then use Enkidu.

Sounds pretty simple right?

Well that's good because it's _not._

He moved with speed that didn't benefit his massive size. Anytime a weapon came at him he would simply backhand it away like a toy and if it was a major threat, shoot it down with his arrows.

Soon enough, _she _was on the defensive.

"What's the matter, girl?" He taunted, slowly walking up towards her, totally carefree. "You were spouting earlier about how much more superior you are than I. And yet here we are, me standing over you."

It was impossible to beat him in a fair fight. Even with her servant's strength, his might still overpowered hers.

"T-This shouldn't be possible!" Angelica whispered, gripping her armored fist tightly. "I am the King of Heroes, I stand above all other mongrels!"

Heracles noticed her frantic whispering. "Huh? What are you whispering? Is it possibly your last words before I smite you?" His expression then grew ugly. "Or perhaps you possibly want me to spare your life in return for your body?"

He slicked his hair back. "Well, I can't judge you, I am _very _handsome. 'My wife," He used air quotes, "Would not be very pleased but she hasn't let me get some in decades!"

He gripped his club tightly. "I'm getting off track, sorry. I get a little heated when I talk about that kind of stuff. Anyway, you're a pretty interesting girl I have to say with your weird portals that shoot out a bunch of swords. Of course, I have to report you to my father but I'm his favorite son and I'm sure I can get him to pardon you."

Angelica was now seething with anger. She belonged only to Julian-sama and nobody else. Whatever he wanted to do with her, he would. She wasn't about to let some filthy barbarian touch her.

She stood up. This time with a plan of action.

Heracles grew serious. "You know, now that I think about it, you're more like that red-haired kid I fought. I don't know what tricks you guys are using but all of it is useless in the face of Heracles who has conquered the TWELVE LABORS!"

"So the faker was able to beat you huh?" Angelica stated, with a menacing aura now surrounding her.

Heracles snarled. "He only beat me because I underestimated him and his weapons! Next time I see him, I'll show him the power of the god of strength!" he then flexed his muscles as a golden aura surrounded him that could only be his divine powers.

Angelica for once in her life, smirked.

"I almost forgot that you're a god." Angelica said, now walking towards the god with a confident expression.

A single portal opened up. A golden chain that had a sharp point appeared, it's sights were set on the god.

"Which means I win."

The chain then shot at speeds the god couldn't track.

**XxX**

**AN: And that's it, chapter 18 finished. **

**I had a little trouble working this out and had to take some ideas from other fics to really understand how to write it out. I hoped the humor was to your liking. **

**Try and guess a couple of the swords that could be at the top of the hill in Shirou's reality marble. The first one is obvious, but I wonder who's going to get all of them? **

**Also, try and guess who's trying to overthrow Hades. It's not too hard of a guess I would assume. **

**Also, here's the chain that Shirou projected. **

**Vazba, The Chain of Binding **

**Type: Anti-Unit/ Binding**

**Rank: C**

**Range: As far as the user can throw. **

**Max Number of Targets: 1**

**A mystic code that was created by a certain magus who wanted to take his origin and harness it into an object. The object in question was the chains. The Clocktower magus was a selfish man who was mocked by all the other magus for having a weak origin. Spending over ten years secluded in his magic workhouse, he eventually came up with the brilliant idea to use his origin, binding to a pair of sturdy chains so that they would become almost unbreakable. **

**When Shirou encountered this weapon is unknown.**

**In battle, the chains could stop anything that should touch it including inanimate objects. Mimicking the user, who wanted to stop all the insults that were spat at him, the chains can stop anything regardless of momentum and force, making it a powerful mystic code. **

**It's weakness however is what stops it from being an A-rank weapon. **

**While the chains cannot be broken or weakened by force, a strong willpower or a heart of gold is able to break it with ease. Since Heroes were known for their insane willpower it makes the weapon less than useful against strong opponents who are known for such insane mentality like Heracles and are ineffective against gods. **

**I think I'm going to write down the history of oc weapons I make. What do you guys think?**

**Anyways, until next time, wrath.**


	19. Chapter 19 Lost

Artemis and her hunters strolled through a forest in california with a goal in mind; kill all the Stymphalian Birds because they were killing nymphs.

It would be a win-win situation for both of them since they could save the girls and recruit other girls.

Either way, she wanted to get this done as fast as possible since the birds were more deadly than people thought. They were flesh-eating birds whose feathers were Celestial Bronze meaning it could harm even an immortal like her.

Not like they would get the chance to of course.

Still, she was immortal, but her hunters were not. Or not fully anyway. They were granted pseudo-immortality so they would never grow past their initial age. Dying in battle was still very much possible and she understood that clearly.

She thought back to Zoe, Kallisto, Bianca and many others who fell because of her mistakes.

"WOOF!" the hunting dogs suddenly started barking, shaking her out of her thoughts.

She looked on ahead at what they were barking at and saw their target; the Stymphalian birds themselves, looking to a normal onlooker like a normal bird. Artemis however, saw right through it and instantly saw it for what it was.

"Ready your bows ladies, they are here." Artemis commanded.

Without question, all the hunters knocked their bows and were ready to shoot. It made Artemis smile at how coordinated they were.

The birds recognized the threat and acted on it. Their appearances suddenly started distorted and the once innocent birds now grew wicked faces with sharper claws and slitted eyes.

Having seen it millions of times, it hardly fazed her but the same couldn't be said about a few of their new recruits who looked frightened at the sudden change.

Before she could reassure them, feathers were suddenly sent at them at rapid speeds.

"Fire!" she ordered and instantly they all shot as fast as they could at the deadly feathers. However, a few managed to get through some of their guards and stabbed them.

"Thalia, carry the wounded out of here, Medb, I want you to use your authority as a child of Demeter to create a plant strong enough to block out all of the feathers."

They nodded, and Thalia swiftly grabbed all the ones that were wounded by the attack. She would have to heal them later but for now they had to deal with this situation.

Medb, slammed her palms onto the ground and a large tree sprouted out of the ground in an instant, obscuring their sights of the birds and vice versa.

"Listen up, for you new people the birds are as monstrous as any other creature and I expect you to treat them like that too, understood?" her voice held a no nonsense tone that she frequently used.

"Yes Ma'am." they all said in unison.

"Now while they are strong monsters, they also come with their own weaknesses there's being a small point on their chest which will instantly incapacitate them." she explained.

They nodded in understanding.

"The tree will not hold up much longer." Medb said, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead. It must have taken a lot of energy to create a tree strong enough to withstand feathers that could pierce steel.

Her efforts would not go in vain. Artemis would make sure of that.

Finally, the tree finally gave out and Medb collapsed from the strain.

Her part was not in vain however, as the other hunters were now prepared and once it broke, the hunters were ready and shot thousands of arrows. Their aim? The stomachs of the bird. Artemis personally blessed all her hunters so that they would have all their strikes reign true.

Indeed, it was true as the birds died quickly, and soon enough the last bird fell.

Strangely enough, there was no girls in sight but Artemis chalked it up to them running. Unfortunate but expected. Girls who were not yet trained were fragile and could easily be manipulated at the hands of men which is what their group is preventing. Perhaps they would encounter them later.

The wolves settled down, the girls lowered their bows, for all intents and purposes looked proud of themselves.

"You guys did amazing; I couldn't have asked for a better group. Tonight, we shall feast on only the best of meat so gather round at noon, you guys deserve it." she flashed them a smile before leaving to her tent.

The girls already knew what to do and had set up all the tents, racks, and tables they needed in ten minutes. It was nothing new at this point and everyone here could do it with ease.

She went inside the big tent which was exclusive for herself and her lieutenants and even sometimes guests, Thalia and Medb, followed behind her as usual and they were greeted to the place that was normal to them by now. A large queen-sized bed that was at the far end of the tent along with a table at the side of it. On a rack was different bows of all shapes and sizes that she frequently practiced with.

They sat down, gracefully (Thalia less so.) and began to speak about today and what their plans were for the upcoming days. Suddenly, Medb, asked her a question that made her pause.

"Lady Artemis, is Shirou still at camp Half-Blood?" Medb questioned.

They were approaching the topic of the camp where demigod resides because they were thinking about coming over there in the coming weeks.

Artemis looked at her, "I believe he's left for a quest in the underworld right about now."

"A quest? Isn't that given only to demigods?" Medb said, confused.

"Usually yes, but this is a special case because Hades himself came to Shirou apparently and requested his assistance." Artemis replied. She wondered why she was so curious about Shirou as they'd only known each other for at best an hour and there was no way they bonded in such a short amount of time.

"I think Percy and Annabeth went with him too. They Iris messaged me yesterday saying they were going on a quest but didn't specify to me what. I guess this is what they were talking about." Thalia said, looking a little miffed at not being invited.

'_Why are Jackson and Annabeth joining Shirou on this quest? Is it that hard that Shirou can't handle it himself?_

"Shirou might be in danger. He is only a mortal and has more limits then us demigods." Thalia stated, worried.

"Only mortal you say? Don't you remember him beating you to the ground a few days ago?" Medb, teased getting a growl from her companion.

Their arguments happened so frequently; Artemis wasn't even miffed by it anymore. Of course, they were just play fighting and were not actually hostile towards each other but still.

"Why you-!" Thalia said but was cut off by the goddess who was quietly watching the exchange.

"Let's not start a fight right now. But I do agree that Shirou can take care of himself if need be. Especially with his… unique skills" Artemis said, gaining a faraway look.

"What even is Shirou's magic? I'm pretty sure we would have heard of something so powerful that it could bring a mortal on the level of-" Artemis quickly covered up Thalia's mouth before she could continue.

"Thalia, you know that the gods take great offense to being compared to humans. Even if he is your father, he will not take too kindly to that." Artemis interrupted.

"S-Sorry." Thalia apologized.

Artemis closed her eyes and sighed. "It's okay just… be careful what you say from now on."

"I also do agree that Shirou's magic is very strange. Do you know where he learned it from Lady Artemis?" Medb questioned, filling in the awkward tension that filled the air.

"No idea, whenever I asked, he answered very vaguely so I assume he learned it from a wizard outside of Olympus' sphere of influence." Artemis guessed. "Either way, I believe he should be fine especially with the help of two of Olympus' greatest heroes."

"Okay then, how do you feel about Sh-"

The dogs who were previously quiet were now barking loudly, alerting all that there was an intruder that was at least supernatural. Humans who happened to stumble upon their group would be convinced by the mist that it was nothing and animals would reflexingly run away because they knew she was here.

Meaning…

The three shot up faster than a bullet and were outside in a millisecond, scanning the area for any signs of an intruder.

"What is going on?!" Artemis shouted to the girls.

One girl, Angelina who was a normal girl answered. "I don't know. The dogs are barking at something north of us but other than that I have nothing."

This instantly brought her on alert. "Thalia, Medb, I want you two to gather all the girls and arm them with weapons. I want them all here where I can see them." she commanded, too alert to be kind.

"My lady, Look right there." Angelina gestured to a man who was walking towards them nonchalantly.

That wasn't the strangest thing about him however, it was the fact that all the light in the area seemed to draw into him like a vacuum and he gave off an aura of power despite wearing only a pair of workout pants.

"That's a god." Artemis stated.

The hunters around them looked surprised. Angelina looked confused. "He's a god? But I've never seen him before and yet he gives off such a large amount of divinity."

Artemis didn't look at her and stayed focused on the man. "The reason you haven't seen him is because he's not allied with Olympus."

Their eyes grew wide. She didn't blame them.

"S-So if he's not with Olympus then he's with the titans?" Angelina questioned.

"Nay. You're thinking too small. He's not associated with Greek in any way. Isn't that right, Lugh of the long arm?" Artemis said to the man.

Lugh laughed. "You got me. I guess pretty boy wasn't lying when he said you guys were dangerous." he then manifested a golden spear in hand. "That just makes it all the more important to silence you and your little girl scouts over there."

"Everyone, get back right now!" Artemis yelled, getting a flinch from everyone. "Now! He's out of your league."

Before she could react, a rock was shot out and struck the back of a retreating huntress, instantly killing her.

"I didn't say you guys could get away." Lugh said, slingshot now in hand.

_Why is he here and why is he killing my hunters? He should be in Ireland right now, not in America. I have to report this to Olympus if they aren't already watching. _

They would sooner or later notice the foreign power that resonated through the area. But for right now it was up to her to defeat him.

She summoned her silver bow and aimed it at him. "Why are you attacking us right now, Lugh and who sent you here?"

"Oh, I was just in the neighborhood you know. I happened to stumble upon you guys bumbling about and decided to crash the party." he said with a vicious grin.

Artemis shot an arrow at him, but he easily backhanded it away.

"C'mon, half-ass attempts to kill me won't work." he scoffed and grabbed a pebble off the ground. "Let me show you how to shoot a projectile."

He loaded the rock onto the string of the slingshot and shot it out so fast, it nicked her cheek before she could react.

'_He's good' Artemis admitted, and rubbed the spot where the cut previously resided. Of course it easily healed but the fact that he could do that was what infuriated her the most._

"If you will not come to me, I shall come to you then!" Lugh suddenly charged her, flaming spear in hand, aimed at her throat. She reflexingly parried the attack with her bow but the force of the attack broke the bow.

She used the components of the bow to form herself her two signature knives and readied her stance.

He started out with a mighty thrust, lacking openings she could exploit, forcing her to flip backwards to dodge and lash out with a kick when he came in close. He managed to roughly grab her, and she could feel her bones cracking then he threw her.

She barely managed to backflip to regain her balance. He stood there; spear ready in a thrusting fashion.

"You're not half bad. For a Greek goddess that is." Lugh said. "But you're not getting away!"

He dashed towards her except this time she attacked first and aimed at his brain, hoping to kill his mortal body before he could do anything. Yet he blocked the attack and thrusted hard, flames accompanying his spear and she could feel the heat from the spear seep through her fingers.

She countered back with a powerful upward strike, leaving him open to a kick in the chest that sent him back a few meters.

It seemed to be ineffective however, as there wasn't even a bruise. And she was sure she used a lot of her strength in that. At this rate she would have to use her divine form because this form was turning out to be ineffective against him.

The problem was that her Hunters were still escaping and should one of them look at her it would spell the end for them. He was clearly on the level on the big three so this meager amount of power wouldn't do.

"Ah, I almost forgot to introduce you to my pet, Failinis." Lugh said and whistled.

Suddenly from within the forest a loud rumble was heard. Artemis at first thought it was some type of wild animal like a bull or a bear but discarded the thought when she heard how loud it actually was.

Crashing through the trees, a massive hound appeared. It had fur that reminded her of electricity because of how bright it was. Its size was easily that of Cerebeus if not larger and wore battle armor that covered up its major weak points.

"You see, Failinis has been my partner for many centuries now having saved my life multiple times and me also saving him. If you care to know, he's a rare breed that was born to a drunken threesome of three men who were cursed by a witch." Lugh explained.

Artemis scrunched up her nose in disgust. She did not need to hear any of that!

"I think that's enough talking though, don't you agree? Failinis, hunt down those pesky hunters but leave one alive, you know who." he ordered getting a nod from the hound.

The hound then dissolved into a pool of wine.

She immediately turned towards where her hunters were but immediately paid the price for it with a scratch on the cheek.

"It's rude to leave a guest by himself you know." Lugh said, slingshot in hand.

She tsked. She needed to help out her girls somehow and in some way. There was no way he was letting her go easily. If she could catch up with the mutt, she could probably kill it with a well-timed blow to the brain, but she didn't exactly have enough faith that her hunters could do the same.

God's animals tended to be extremely strong, usually infused with the god's own essence giving it even stronger powers like a lion that's already strong becoming strong enough to rip open a car with ease or take on older monsters.

It looked like for now, she would have to just put her faith in her family. Thalia could probably hold it off long enough for her to get there.

Her mind decided, she closed her eyes as a silver aura started to resonate around her. Her essence that made her a goddess was gathering together into one spot, enabling her to exhibit more power then she could usually use with her normal body.

She wouldn't make the same mistake she did with Zoe. She refused to lose any other hunters to fights she could easily have interfered in.

Lugh who was watching, grinned. "I see you've decided to finally take me seriously. If that's the case, then so shall I!"

His form also glowed as his essence started to gather together but unlike hers, he had less divinity then she did and as such it was a quicker process.

Lugh now stood at a menacing 6"4. He had blond hair that was as spikey as needles and wore armor that was similar to a Greek battle skirt except it was shorter and had lined going down it. He held a long spear in his right hand and in his left a heater shield.

He stood tall, with an arrogance that wasn't born from just boasting but from actual battles and experience.

When Artemis' form was finally revealed she looked completely different. She was now standing at a whopping 6"1, almost as tall as her adversary, her previous auburn hair was now moonlight silver and streamed down her back like water in a river and finally she was equipped with a large bow easily as large as she was.

She opened her eyes revealing her shining silver eyes. "Are you ready now? I'm not holding back anymore." her voice carried a tonelessness that was impossible for even the darkest of humans.

"Always!"

And so, the battle began.

**XxX**

Shirou was now reassessing all of his life's choices.

The quest was a spectacular _failure _and he had no idea how to fix it. The car (thanks to that damn ghost) was currently crashing down and was already erupting in flames. They were high up unfortunately, and so with the momentum they were going at, they or more like _he _would die, magecraft or not.

Percy was extremely fortunate to have such a power even if it came with its own cost. At the very least it let him stray his mind away from Percy and focus more on himself and Annabeth's safety.

He racked his brain around any ideas that he could come up with, even if it was the silliest like jumping out of the car.

It was then that he spotted a river that was not too far off from where they currently were. An idea hit him like a lightbulb lighting up.

"That's why I can't just fix the car. Trust me seaweed brain, I thought of everything already. Hundreds of calculations, there's no way me and Shirou will survive this unscat-"

"I have an idea." Shirou cut in uncaringly. "If you look just over there is a river that we can fall into to break our fall."

"Shirou, we're not like Percy, a fall from that height is the equivalent of falling from a building, regardless of how soft it looks. Once again, only Percy would survive a fall unscathed." Annabeth rebutted.

Percy grimaced. He must be conflicted.

"That is true under normal circumstances. But this is not, and we have Percy here who can probably manipulate the water particles enough to where we can safely land as if we're jumping into a pool."

"That's… not a bad idea actually." Annabeth admitted.

"Hold the phone, how can you guys put such faith in me? I could mess up and we could all go splat." Percy said, looking for the first time Shirou's seen him; afraid.

Shirou looked Percy in the eye. "There is no other choice. The car is burning as we speak and we have less than a minute before this car crashes. And besides, would you really screw up with your girlfriend on the line?"

Shirou knew it was a dirty move but found it necessary given the situation. This was a quest given to them by the god and he would rather not fail it. He understood the demigod enough to know that when his friend's lives were on the line he excelled.

Percy glared at him a little.

"He's right Percy." Annabeth came to his side. "Even I can't think of anything that would work in this situation. Parachutes would be ineffective because of the wind and everything else is too dangerous so we just have to depend on you."

"Fine." Percy relented. "I'll stay up here so I can control the water better and jump down after you guys. We're jumping on three."

"Sure." Shirou said.

Annabeth gave Percy a quick kiss which Shirou pretended not to see for obvious reasons and opened the car doors, having grabbed everything they needed with Shirou having his bow strapped securely to his back via tracing.

Percy nodded and they jumped off.

Shirou had never been skydiving before or anything remotely similar so this was as much of a new experience as it was to both. He surprisingly was able to steer himself after a minute of flapping his hands around and steered closer to Annabeth.

The river suddenly exploded upwards and a large hand (that kind of frightened Shirou) gently snatched them from the air. The hand then gently put them both onto land after giving Annabeth a head pat and then the water fell back into the ocean.

Percy soon crashed down in the ocean with a loud splash, getting both of them a little wet.

"Percy! You got my clothes wet now!" Annabeth said.

The son of the sea god in mention emerged from the water dry as if he'd never went in. "Sorry, I usually always do cannonballs and I forgot about you guys getting wet."

"It's fine." Shirou said. He was only a little bit wet and it would dry off in ten minutes. "What we should do is find out what we're going to do next now that our only way of getting there is gone. Any ideas?"

"I can Iris Message Chiron since there's water right here and tell him about this situation. He could probably send some help our way." Annabeth suggested.

"Iris messaging is that thing that allows you to contact someone when you flick a coin into water right?" He idly heard Hermes mention it a few times but had never looked into it.

"Yeah, it's something that we demigods and god's use to message people that are far away. It's saved my behind more than once." Percy said.

"That's right." Annabeth said. She then grabbed a gold coin from her pocket- a drachma if he remembered correctly and flicked it into the water.

"Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering and show me Chiron in Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth said and suddenly the water seemed to swirl like a vortex and a rainbow appeared, shocking him. Said rainbow's image turned into the familiar face of the immortal centaur.

Chiron looked around a little before spotting them. "Greetings Shirou, Percy and Annabeth, what is it that you need?"

"Hey Chiron, I wish we were calling to tell you we won the lottery but I'm afraid not, the car Hades gave us sort of crashed because some ghost broke it apart." Percy said, getting straight to the point.

"You said ghosts?" Chiron asked, looking troubled, a look he hadn't seen before.

"Yeah, Casper who was disguised as a hawk, tried to kill us but Shirou managed to defeat it but in its last stand, it managed to tear apart the car's engine and we were eventually forced to abandon ship." Percy explained.

Chiron grew serious. "I only know a few people who use ghosts to do their bidding and none of them are good news. It's clear that whoever attacked you had the intention of stopping you from reaching the underworld."

"Yeah, I also suspected that whoever sent that ghost to attack us is also the one who is rebelling against the Rich One." Annabeth said. Shirou noticed her not directly saying Hades' name and instead saying one of his monikers.

"I see. If this is the case then I doubt that he was the only one sent to stop you and I recommend you guys not to let your guards down until you guys get there and even then you still shouldn't." Chiron suggested.

While Chiron said that Shirou noticed out of the corner of his eye, footprints, human footprints. His eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion and he walked towards it, bow ready to be drawn at a moment's notice.

Percy noticed him walking away and questioned him. "Where are you going Shirou? This is important right now and could save our lives."

"There are footprints that are not our own here which means that Chiron was correct in his assessment." Shirou replied.

They tensed up at the news and he didn't blame them. There was a high chance that someone was watching them right now and listening in on the call. Possibly someone with greater strength then the previous one.

"That's not good." Chiron stated the obvious. "Do not follow the footprints or else you will just be playing into the enemy's hands. Act like you don't see anything and wait for them to come to you. For now, I would advise to inspect the wreckage of the car because there is a good chance that it's repaired by now."

The suggestion sounded good and would be good in other situations but in this situation, where the environment was unrecognizable, they would still be at a disadvantage. But he had no better ideas, so he stayed quiet.

"You're right, Chiron we should check out the car as it might be repaired like last time." Annabeth, always the diligent student, said.

"Thank you for listening. I'm afraid I must go and tend to the campers; we are still rebuilding the Demeter cabin and I must lead them before they lose their heads." Chiron sighed.

With that, the centaur dispelled the call and the rainbow faded.

"So… I guess we should head out, huh?" Percy said, trying to break the overlaying tension that had settled upon them.

They started walking at a reasonable pace deeper into the mountains where more danger could await them.

Shirou looked at the sun. It was somewhere around 8pm right now judging from how the sun was setting and soon it would be too dark to see.

"I think we should set up camp here. We aren't going to make it there in time anyway." Shirou stated.

"I agree." Percy said.

Annabeth hesitated for a moment. "I suppose you're right."

Shirou traced three sleeping bags for them to sleep in and passed it to them.

"Man, your ability is super handy." Percy said, accepting the bag and placing it on the floor.

"It helps." Shirou admitted.

"You don't understand how unique your ability is." Annabeth said, brushing stray strands of hair back. "Even I don't fully get how it works as you seem to be able to make anything. No, you're not creating it are you? This sleeping bag silk feels different from usual ones and I don't think it's because of the brand."

Her grey eyes seemed to drill right into him, trying to discover everything he knows. It was then that Shirou realized how much of a monster she truly is. In a good way (sort of.) She was easily able to deduce half of his ability from him simply tracing a sleeping bag and even managed to tell it wasn't real which was basically impossible because mundane items such as that were almost impossible to tell the difference from. He would hate to have to make an enemy out of Annabeth Chase.

"You're right, I'm not 'creating' something I'm just bringing what I already know (the sleeping bag) into real life." There was no more reason to lie. They were going to be fighting together so much that it would just negatively affect the team if he kept secrets. Plus, she was a genius enough already that she would have figured it out herself if she truly wanted to.

Annabeth looked at him for a while. "You know, every day I think I have you figured out I learn more about you and that just goes to ashes. From where you came from to how involved you are is just one big mystery to me which I will uncover, one day." she promised. Shirou knew she wasn't joking when she said that. Not like he had much to hide anyways besides a secret magical war where you fought to gain a wish.

Other than that, he was as clean as a daisy.

"Lay off him Annabeth, he's not some puzzle you need to solve, and we have greater things to worry about than his strange wizard powers like who's stalking us and why." Percy said.

The magus was glad that Percy finally spoke up, having let her pick him apart piece by piece.

Annabeth sighed like she was just denied her favorite toy or in this case, person. "Sorry, I kind of got caught up with your ability that I went full Athena mode."

The apology was as sincere as they come but she never did say she would stop investigating him. Still, that was the best he was going to get from her.

"It's fine, let's just go to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Shirou said.

"G'night." Percy said.

"Night"

"Goodnight."

As Shirou started to black out, he could have sworn he'd seen an ethereal man who looked to be of Chinese descent, smile at him and tip his long and sharp bladed hat at him.

Sleep soon took him over and he dreamed of a man who was a god of martial arts.

**AN:And that's it. **

**Tomorrow's my birthday so I had to do a little bit of a shorter chapter, only capping off at 5k. Have you guys ever felt it weird to be special on your birthday? Like when everyone's singing happy birthday, it just feels weird having all the attention on me. Maybe it's just me.  
**

**Of course, the next chapter will hopefully be longer and more enjoyable I hope. I had to go digging through the internet for all the stuff I could find about Lugh and I kind of have a moveset planned out for him. When I was writing it though I was like "Is this going to turn out to be a dragon ball z fight?" but quickly discarded that idea. **

**Lugh is weaker than Artemis but he'll have his methods… hopefully or else he'll get his butt served to him by our favorite goddess Artemis. **

**Moving on, no more news on the Heracles vs Angelica fight yet, still saving that for the next chapter and I've got to decide how I want to play this out and make everyone satisfied. **

**Lastly, we're about to hit 1k followers hype! And literally the day before my birthday too which is great. I never would have thought I would write this far and get so far. But look at this now, a story with 8 communities recommended into it, I can't thank ya'll enough. **

_**Now if only people would review more and tell me what they liked about it, then it would be heaven. **_

**Anyways, enough brooding, I'll see you guys later in my other story distorted. Until next time, wrath.**


	20. Chapter 20 Youngling

Heracles knew anger. It was something veryfamiliar to him and everyone around him. Godhood did nothing but increase it if anything.

Anger towards Hera for ruining his life multiple times.

Anger towards the tyrant king who set him out for the twelve labors.

Those were only a few examples.

Yet, what he was experiencing right now felt like a brand-new type of anger. One that was born out of pure _annoyance_. Not only that but it was all directed towards the women standing in front of him who was expressionless as she shot out infinite weapons from that infuriating portal of hers.

"You coward fight me yourself!" He roared as he batted away more weapons. It was really getting annoying at this point.

"Why should I dirty my hands to attack a Mongrel like yourself?" She questioned getting a growl from him.

He then had to dodge several specially enchanted lances which sought after the target, only managing to get out unscathed because of his pelt.

'_I need to do something and fast! I can't die in such a humiliating way! I could go into divine form but that takes a second that she will not give me. It's really starting to bite me in the ass not training.' _He thought.

"It seems my usual attacks are ineffective against you. No matter, for my next attack will be the end of you." she stated arrogantly.

"Big talk for someone who's barely been able to injure me so far! Have you ever heard of my legend? I was able to wrestle him down the Hydra, defeat the amazon queen Hippolyta, defeat multiple titans and defeat the Nemean Lion with my bare hands gaining this mighty pelt that makes all your attacks futile!" he declared loudly.

Despite his boasts, he was getting more and more wary of her by the second. She was learning and quick. Before her attacks were sloppier and more uncoordinated letting him dodge with relative ease but by the minute she was learning and bringing out more appropriate weapons like that red spear which almost got him if not for his pelt. However, it was better to pretend to look strong then show weakness. It was what got him by whenever he was feeling scared of a situation.

"Hmph." She held out her hand and a familiar portal floated atop it. However, instead of a spear or an axe appearing a single chain that was golden and with a sharp point appeared. It was without a doubt, a legendary weapon that would make even Athena marvel at the design.

"Face the power of the Chains of Heaven!" The chain shot out impossibly fast and was within two meters in but a second. Learning from previous experiences he leaped out of the way, expecting the chain to sink into the ground however, what he didn't expect was it to curve unnaturally and extend even farther.

Eyes widened, he crashed down on the ground and immediately went into a roll as a chain appeared where his head used to be. He dodged multiple of them and drew his bow, shooting at the sharp end of it before it came too close to him. His instincts screamed at him to move and so he did and just in time to dodge another chain.

'_How far does this thing extend?! Does it have a limit at all or is there something I'm not getting?!' _It was a question that seemed more like the former then the latter the farther he got.

Luckily, they were in a plain field with only grass to occupy them so it was easier to maneuver around it. He drew an arrow and shot it right at Angelica only for a shield to appear from the gates and repel it while also breaking.

"You have shields too?! What don't you have?" Heracles asked.

"Everything is rightfully mine. A king is destined to have all that they can ask for and so I have everything I could possibly desire. My Gates of Babylon is infinite with weapons spanning from swords to vehicles." She enjoyed seeing his pale face at the statement.

A smile crept up her lips. "Do you understand now just how useless your efforts are? Though I do have to admit that you put up as much of a fight as Shirou Emiya."

"We'll see." Was all he said as their charade continued. Heracles made the bold plan of rushing towards her, taking advantage of his pelt by covering himself leaving only his eyes to be seen.

"That skin can only help you out so much!" She said as the chains started rapidly heading towards him.

'_Twenty Meters, Fifteen Meters, Five meters… now!'_ Twisting with all his strength he managed to not only dodge all the attacks but get close enough that she actually started looking afraid, getting a smirk from him.

"YOU'RE FINISHED!" He didn't have to worry about her chains as they were well past him already and they both knew his pelt would negate anything he himself couldn't. Swinging his bat it impacted her face, instantly killing her.

Or at least that's what would have happened had a silver portal not appeared and stopped him. He couldn't stop his momentum in time unfortunately, and ended up falling through, ending up back where he started.

"You fell for my trap just like that Faker if not more so. I knew from the beginning that you would figure out some way to counteract Enkidu and so I thought four steps ahead of you."

Heracles refused to believe that as he tried to rush towards her again only for a chain to suddenly grab him. He looked towards the source and saw a gate come from the… ground? Meaning she must have saved the ability until the time was just right.

Thinking he could bust out of it, he flexed his muscles expecting the chains to groan before breaking or just outright break but he was surprised to see that the entirety of his left arm was immobile and he could move a muscle with it.

Shocked, he tried again. And again, refusing to believe he couldn't break out of it.

"How is this possible? Chains that I, the great Heracles, the greatest hero can't break out of!"

"Die." she said, and hundreds of weapons surrounded him from all sides, this time leaving no openings. Thinking he could easily block it with his pelt she spoke.

"You're probably thinking you can just use your pelt to dodge the attack aren't you." she said, getting a shocked look from him. "Don't you remember Heracles that when I said I have all the weapons in the world, I mean _all _of them."

"In legends it was said that the Nemean Lion was the toughest monster to kill and that few weapons in the world could kill it. That is of course, still true, however, look at every weapon closely." she said.

Heracles glanced at the weapons that hovered above him and noticed instantly what she was talking about.

Angelica smirked. "I see you notice finally. Every weapon you see here is not made of metal, but the bones of the lion that people in ancient Greece crafted as weapons, spears, spartha's, clubs, I'm sure you see. The one weakness that the lion has was _itself! _The bones and claws could harm itself."

Heracles' face rapidly paled. There was nothing left he could do. His pelt was his only saving grace and not even his divine form would save him now.

With a gesture, the weapons crashed down onto him, piercing his body at all sides and kicking up a large cloud of dust.

Angelica stood victoriously. "I have done it lord Julian. Our biggest threat is now eliminated!" she proclaimed as she turned around and prepared to leave and inform her master.

That turned out to be her biggest mistake yet as a large bat suddenly met her face, sending a wave of pain she was unfamiliar along with being rocketed backwards before she could even properly process it.

She could feel multiple bones broken in her body and her face marred with blood. Her vision started to go black as she finally processed that she was hit. _Hard. _

"H-How are... you still alive?!" She weakly questioned. Her once calm and neat posture ruined, and her neat twin-tails was now straight hair that cascaded down her back.

"I severed everything below my wrist and dug a tunnel underground and managed to dodge a majority of the projectiles. Though, I will admit that a few did get me." He showed her that a few of the bone weapons struck his spine and a few were implanted into his stomach. If he was not Heracles it was doubtful that he would still be alive with those injuries.

"Checkmate, women. It seems like you aren't very experienced with pain as you are at dishing it out. How ironic. Anyways, I still stand by my offer of making you my women. You are strong, beautiful and can possibly even defeat my father himself with your arsenal. So, do you agree?"

Angelica who was currently on the brink of unconsciousness, still answered with denial. "I serve only master Julian and nobody else. You would have to kill me for me to ever give up hunting a barbarian like yourself." She said with as much heat that she could muster.

Heracles' smile instantly dropped to a frown. Then it shifted into a neutral expression. "I see. It seems trying to convince you will not work. Which means that the only other option is to kill you. Though, before I do, let me ask you a question. Who's this Julian character you keep spouting on about? Is he your 'king' or perhaps something more?"

"It does not concern you, barbarian! Even if you do kill me, I still have accomplices who are just as strong!" Angelica yelled.

"Yikes such temper. Reminds me of myself. Oh well, it was worth a shot." Heracles said uncaringly. He then held the bat to her head, ready to crush it.

But before he could he found himself completely shackled in chains, shocking him.

"H-How?! You're supposed to be on the brink of unconsciousness! I'm sure that I cracked your skull!" He said struggling to move but to no avail. Head, neck, hands, chest, everything was accounted for, proving she was not taking any chances.

She stood up, wiping her cheek of blood as the injuries started fading rapidly, shocking him. Even the blood on her was somehow gone.

She held a green stone in hand. "This is Hanfu, it means 'healing' in Mandarin. It is a mystical stone that was blessed by the gods to give one what they most desire. In my case, I wanted to be back in full condition and so I am. Of course, it's only a one-use item and I can't use it to kill you, but it did its job."

With that, the bone weapons appeared again and readied themselves to strike the already wounded Heracles.

Angelica wasn't arrogant enough this time, to turn her back on her opponent and personally oversaw his death.

"DAMN YOU! I, HERACLES THE GREATEST HERO IN GREECE, CURSE YOU TO BE PHYSICALLY WEAK WHEN YOU NEED IT THE MOST! AND WHEN YOU NEED STRENGTH IT WILL **NOT COME TO YOU! I WILL BE BACK!**" Heracles bellowed to the world as a countless barrage of weapons attacked his vital points, killing him almost instantly.

As soon as she confirmed he was dead, she fell to her knees as the Archer card forcefully ejected itself from overuse. She knew she had overused it past its initial time limit and was now paying the price. The Gilgamesh card was a powerful card as it was hard to use and sometimes, she even heard the ancient king's voice resonate through her and affect her actions.

Luckily, she was built to handle such a strain although it would be a good week before she could use it again without suffering heavy consequences.

Unfortunately, this meant that she had to find a phone to message her master or… take a bus to their base. Either way it wasn't going to be pretty.

**XxX**

Up on Olympus, Zeus stood on his throne as he did every day, commanding all the gods and goddesses to do so and so, fill out paperwork and listen to cocky gods demand things that just frankly weren't fair. The only other interesting thing was that somebody was using their divine form but it disappeared as quickly as it came which meant they probably were just using it for transport.

His normal day changed quickly when he suddenly felt the presence of a god die. This in itself put him on high alert as it was rare for a god to die, especially under these mostly peaceful circumstances. He briefly thought it was Kronos or his Titans but quickly discarded the idea as they were officially _dead._

He used his authority as a sky deity to spy through the sky and pinpoint where exactly the death had come from. He found results and was met with a dissolving corpse of a man.

He zoomed in larger and saw it to be… his son, who was almost completely dissolved gasp one last breath

Zeus' eyes sparkled with electricity as he saw the dissolving corpse of his favorite son.

Hera who was by his side gently put a hand on his shoulder. "What happened, honey? Did some god break the rules or something?"

"Heracles just died. He was killed by someone." _Or something. _

"Didn't that wizard Shirou already kill him?" She said uncaringly.

"NO!" he bellowed as he stood up from his throne. "He was alive, but he was hiding. It couldn't have been the human as I can sense him and Jackson in Oregon meaning that it was an outside party."

"What are you going to do about it then?" Hera asked.

"I'm going to where my son died. Personally." He said with no small amount of heat.

"Are you sure that's a wise decision? Whoever the attacker is could possibly ambush you and while I do not like the meathead, I do respect his strength and acknowledge that he's one of the stronger of us." She admitted.

"Exactly the point my darling. If the attacker _did _confront my son, they are most certainly weak and we both know he's not a weakling. All I will have to do is finish them personally." Zeus said with a sinister smile.

Contrary to popular belief, Zeus was not a dumb man. He was rash yes, but he was most certainly not dumb or else he wouldn't have been leader for this long. Hera could see plans forming in his sky-blue eyes which went through thousands of situations. She wouldn't have been surprised if he already planned out the attacker's death.

"I see there is no changing your mind then." She got up from her throne and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I shall inform the council; you go ahead and find the attacker before they get away."

He said nothing else as he turned into lightning and bolted out of the throne room and onto the mortal realm.

Zeus was coming. And he was coming to seek justice for his son, and nothing would stop him.

**XxX **

They had just finished packing up the remains of their camp for the night and Shirou still couldn't get that mysterious man off his mind. Whether it was a delusion or not, it was bothering him and it would most likely continue to plague him till he figured it out.

"Hey, Shirou you okay?" Annabeth asked with concern.

Shirou nodded. "Yes, I am, sorry I was just thinking of something I saw before I went to bed last night."

"What did you see?"

"I saw some ethereal man kind of like that shapeshifting creature we fought in the sky, staring at us while we slept." He explained.

"That's certainly weird." Annabeth said, putting a hand on her chin in thought.

Before they could continue their thoughts, Percy came back from his job at getting food, carrying berries.

"I'm back! It took a little bit as I had to check to see if they were poisoned or not and harvest them without accidentally crushing it. Unfortunately, I saw no game to kill." He said.

"It's fine, it should last us a while. Are any of you hungry?" Annabeth asked.

"Not really." Shirou never had much of an appetite despite his love for cooking and instead preferred watching others eat then himself.

"Starving." Percy said dramatically.

"Okay so we'll split them evenly. There are thirty in total which means that we each get ten each until we find more." She said, handing them their share.

They then trekked through the mountains at their own leisurely pace, only stopping to drink water (Which Percy of course purified.) and soon they found something they never expected to see out here; shelter.

Well, it was more like a cabin than anything else with it being made of logs that looked like they needed changing based on the moss that was growing from it.

"Should we go inside?" Percy asked.

"It's our best bet, we are still a good distance away from the wreckage of the car so any directions at all will be helpful." Shirou replied, taking the lead and the two trailed behind him.

The door was already half-open so Shirou snuck a peek inside to see if he could find anyone living there but found nothing except a rocking chair that was in the far back and to compliment that a square-tv that was also old fashioned.

"Reminds me of Aunt Em's Emporium." Shirou said.

"That place was freaky when I was there years ago, and it still scares me to this day." Percy said.

"Hush you two, we don't want to startle anyone that may see us. I say proceed with caution until we're positive nobody lives here. That means no magic swords for you Shirou and no Riptide for you, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth ordered getting a nod from them.

Shirou opened up the door fully as quietly as he could, cringing at the eerie creaking noise that accompanied it and walked through the kitchen that was the closest to the door. Percy and Annabeth decided to check the rooms while he did the kitchen. Unfortunately, he found nothing out of the ordinary and also no signs of anybody living here. Though, the dishes were washed and neatly put on a rack.

Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something out of the corner of his eyes. It was a plate. To be more specific it had a small amount of dish soap on it meaning it was recently washed probably no more than 3 or so hours ago.

'_Okay so someone has been here recently but if they aren't in here then where they can be?' _The whole situation was unnerving the young magus the more he thought into it.

CLANG

Hearing the loud noise, he rushed towards the room his allies were currently searching to see them facing off against a large metal knight that was currently trying to slice them in half.

Percy barely managed to grab Annabeth before the sword descended, crushing the bed next to them.

"Shirou, this thing suddenly sprung up from an armor stand like a ghost and tried to kill us!" Percy said, uncapping his sword.

Shirou drew his bow and aimed it dead center at the knight's armored helmet. Before he could shoot however, a pair of arms suddenly grabbed onto him and roughly slammed him through the glass window. Blood dripped from all places as the shards of glass impacted his skin before he could apply reinforcement.

"Shirou!" he heard Annabeth call out in panic before having to duck under the knight's large broadsword.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine just focus on defeating that knight!" He said.

He focused back on his fight as the large man jumped out of the same exit he did except rougher. He now got a good look at his attacker. He was tall, probably over six feet, large bulging muscles not unlike Heracles and he was shirtless with the only thing covering his dignity a single piece of cloth.

He drew his bow and released a high-powered arrow at his attacker who simply rolled over the attack and started a mad sprint towards him, already within ten meters. Seeing this, Shirou slung his bow over his back again and traced his familiar Kanshou and Bakuya. Despite that, the man barely looked fazed as he swung his large fist at his face only for it to meet his twin swords crossed in an x.

The man applied more force to his fists as it lit up in an emerald green light and shattered his two swords. Fortunately, the swords did their jobs as his momentum was severely decreased, letting Shirou duck under the fist, and summon another Kanshou to slice at his thrusted arm. The man paid the cuts on his arm no mind as he kept ruthlessly trying to hit Shirou who had gotten the hang of his fighting style which just consisted of punching until you hit something.

Next time the man lashed out, Shirou reinforced his arms and caught the arm, shocking the man before ruthlessly stabbing him in the chest with his blade. He didn't stop there and sunk deeper and deeper into him, making the man cough up globs of blood before falling to the ground, deceased.

'_That was easier than I expected it to be. Maybe I'm so used to fighting enemies that I have learned.'_

Before he could think more into the thought, he saw the deceased man's body glow before something appeared from his brain, like a soul ascending to heaven.

"I see you managed to defeat this man pretty easily. That's of no surprise though, as he was just an innocent bystander whose real identity is the owner of the house. And you just killed him!" the ghost started cackling loudly making Shirou tighten his fists.

"You bastard!" Shirou cursed angrily. "You used an innocent life to do your own dirty work and tried to make it look like I did it! It's all you!"

Shirou's mana crackled to life as he summoned his two blades getting a grin from the ghost.

"I heard of your fancy ability from the mistress but seeing it up close is all the more interesting. I wonder how exactly it works." the ghost mused.

"You'll get an up-close demonstration when it's through your throat." Shirou growled.

"So feisty so feisty. I guess I'll give you a go and see what exactly you're capable of that has everyone so riled up." The ghost then completely left the dead man's body and reformed like a cloud until it became human-like.

Shirou's eyes widened when he realized what he truly looked like. He looked to be of Chinese origin with a large hat on that shadowed his face, a tunic that had the symbol of two swords crossed over each other and basic black pants.

He took a stance that Shirou didn't recognize with his right arm covering his face and his left in front of him. If anything, it looked more like a pose then something used in battle.

"Well are you coming youngling? Haven't you heard the saying '_the younger one must come to the oldest if they must seek battle?'_ In traditions, the older and more powerful foe never challenges the weaker one. They wait until the younger one comes to them." He said.

Shirou ignored him, too filled with raw anger of the innocent's death so he charged at him, swords ready to cleave him into two. Striking with Kanshou first, he stabbed at the man's chest, only for the sword to meet the ghost's finger as he easily held onto the Noble Phantasm with zero effort, shocking Shirou.

"Not a bad sword, definitely originated from China and sharper than I anticipated it to be. However, you're going to need something better than this to beat the martial arts master." he struck his palm into Shirou's stomach, making him widen his eyes in pain before flying backwards where his head impacted a tree.

Luckily, this time he was able to reinforce his head in time so that the impact didn't crush his skull open. Nonetheless, he felt the pain of the attack to his stomach despite it not packing a lot of power behind it.

'_Who is this guy?'_ Shirou thought to himself as he stood up as smoothly as possible. '_He claimed to be a martial artist, but this is unreal! I've never seen such a style that's so gentle yet effective.' _

"Good, you're back up again. I was worried you were already out for the count, but this just makes it better."

Shirou sprinted towards him, using reinforcement on his legs to close the distance faster, and swung his swords in an x pattern only for the ghost to lean back and avoid the attack then counter by sweeping Shirou's legs from under him, leaving him unable to react to a barrage of palm strikes that all met their mark at the magus' chest.

"EYAH!" Shirou spat out blood as he could feel his ribs cracking and possibly breaking from the attacks. Shirou could see purple bruises starting to form on multiple spots and blood covered his right eye. This was easily the most damage he's ever taken since the Angelica fight and he didn't like it. He briefly glanced at how the couple were doing from inside and saw them also having trouble with their opponent.

Whenever they both tried attacking it, the knight would swing his large broadsword, forcing them to back up and so they couldn't get very close to it. Still, they were making progress as the knight's left arm was severed and cuts could be seen on its once shiny metal.

Percy of course, was fine because of his curse and his high physique while Annabeth was mostly fine, only suffering minor cuts that she couldn't avoid in time.

Better than he was doing. By far. Though granted, he was fighting a much harder opponent then they were and bled easier.

"You should pay attention!" His opponent warned him, striking with his palm except this time Shirou blocked it with his reinforced forearm. Still, he could feel the impact rattle his bones and knock his guard down for a kick.

Shirou looked at his hands. His right hand was almost completely mangled meaning he couldn't draw back his bow anymore and any weapons he had that were two handed he could no longer carry properly.

'_Damn it!' _Shirou grit his teeth as he thought of a solution. '_I have one hand so I can only use one weapon at a time and whatever he did to my body, disrupted my circuits so I can no longer trace any of my high-tier weapons.' _

The only weapons he could trace with no difficulties was his twin blades because they were deeply embedded into his Reality Marble that it took no effort.

He had to win this though. For his friends that were fighting and for the lives that could be saved in the underworld. His one inspiration to keep going however, was Miyu and he could almost hear her cheering in his mind for him to keep fighting.

And so he did. With a newfound passion he traced Kanshou and squeezed the handle trying to figure out some sort of solution to winning this.

"For a mere human you sure can take a hit or two." The ghost complimented. "Though, the real question is _how _much more can you take before you drop? One? Five? Ten? Don't get me wrong now, you're certainly strong and I see that you are clearly a threat to my mistress should I let you live but unfortunately, that is _not _the case for yo~u."

"Now come to me and die with honor and justice."

Shirou threw Kanshou at the man who easily sidestepped the attack. Shirou was persistent though and kept throwing Kanshou and Bakuya multiple times getting a sigh from him.

"Are you really this desperate that you're wasting your blades? I mean I'm sure you have a good amount of them youngling, but do you _really _want to waste your effort doing that. You're already bleeding out." He said neutrally.

Shirou charged at him again and the ghost readied himself to palm strike him in the heart. Once Shirou was within distance the man struck out with a palm, but the magus predicted this and used his already wounded arm to absorb the blow, making the injuries worse but still saving his life. The man for once was shocked and was left open for a slash against his cheek, splitting it open.

The man growled and tried to strike again only for it to meet the reinforced Kanshou head-on, stopping the attack completely. The ghost would not give up however, and headbutted the magus, almost knocking him unconscious but Shirou mustered all of his willpower to pull through and grabbed the man's arms immobilizing him.

"What are you going to do now huh!?" The man growled at the stalemate. "We're both stuck now."

"Incorrect. Look behind you." The Chinese man looked behind him to see the swords he had sidestepped come spinning back towards him and at a high velocity.

He stood shocked as the blades pierced through his head, chest, throat and shoulders. Green liquid spilled from those spots as he collasped to the ground, gasping for breath.

"F-Fair play, youngling… I see that _I _am now the younger one. M-My name is Wu Chang, the son of Ares." He said.

Those were the last words he said before succumbing to his wounds.

Shirou stood over his dissolving corpse feeling a mix of emotions. On one hand, he was glad that he was defeated and that was one less dangerous enemy to face but he felt like he cheated for some reason. There was no way he was going to win that had he not used his blades ability and his circuits were scrambled.

'_I guess I should just be thankful I'm alive.' _Was the last thing he thought before dropping face first into the ground, unconscious?

**XxX**

Percy was starting to get tired of fighting this armored dude. He had destroyed the ceiling of the shack a long time ago and it had now devolved into cat and mouse. With the knight being the cat and him and Annabeth being the mouse.

'_I love Tom and Jerry man, that's the first thing I will watch when I get home.'_ He parried a strike and rolled out of the way.

Shirou was attacked a while ago, and was facing the other enemy at the moment, leaving the tin can to the two of them.

"Hey Wise Girl, you have a plan or something cooking up in that beautiful brain of yours?" he asked his girlfriend.

Annabeth thought for a moment. "The only thing I can think of is to take off the head and it should be disabled. Chances are that it's a normal suit of armor that just happened to be here but was possessed by a ghost."

"How did you figure that out?" Percy questioned, amazed.

"There's a price tag on it." she deadpanned.

He looked more closely and could see a price tag attached to its hip which he hadn't noticed beforehand.

Suddenly he was pushed out of the way by Annabeth who looked annoyed. "Pay attention, we can't afford to get distracted. Even though you have the curse, you can still take blunt force damage and you're not invincible."

He knew that well enough from his fights with Kronos. Especially after losing the curse, he felt so… fragile and any damage he took even the slightest paper cut, hurt so much that it was scary.

"Okay so here's the plan Annabeth, you distract it so it's attention is off me while I charge in and cut off its head like you said." Percy said.

"Percy, that's… actually a pretty solid plan." she admitted. "Let's try it out."

Annabeth dashed to his right, getting the knight's attention as it shifted its glowing red eyes on her. "Come and get me!"

The knight swung horizontally at her forcing her to leap over the attack as she charged at it. Luckily, it was quite slow which was its cost for its immense power letting her slash at its legs getting it to almost trip.

"HYAAAAA" Percy yelled as he found his opening and aimed to stab out its brains. However, what they didn't expect was for it's head to suddenly eject from it's shoulder and slam straight into the son of poseidon, sending him rocketing back before roughly hitting the kitchen counter.

"Percy!" She cried out in worry. The knight made her pay the price for her distraction and backhanded her through the roof.

"Crap!" Percy cursed as he got up as fast as he could and rushed towards her, only for the knight to grab him by the head and slam him into the ground, cracking the ground beneath him. Percy just managed to ready Riptide before he felt the impact of the knight's sword push him further and further in the ground.

'_Damn it, he's too strong to push off right now which means I need some water nearby or something if I want to get him off me.' _Seeing no other choice, he took a page out of Annabeth's book and kicked him roughly between his legs.

Despite not having any manly parts or not even having a gender it still howled like it did and its grip loosened enough for Percy to muster up the strength to push off it, and tackle it to the ground, now gaining the advantage. He then hit it with a barrage of slices, breaking off each part of its body.

It tried detaching itself once again, but Percy was ready this time and used his Earthshaker powers to dig it underground, effectively sealing it. Percy waited only a moment before dashing outside the house to find Shirou unconscious with blood leaking from all sides of his body. His bow was right next to him, like a dog waiting for its master to wake up.

"The hell happened here? I never would have thought he would be in such a bad condition. He Must have had a hard fight like us." Percy said to himself.

He had to find where Annabeth landed, and grab her before she got injured anymore. Luckily, they packed ambrosia which meant that she would be fine, if she got it in time. Shirou on the other hand, he wasn't sure of. Since he wasn't a demigod, he couldn't eat any of the ambrosia without instantly dying.

It only took only a few seconds to find her, back against a tree that was also broken and unconscious. She was bleeding a little, but he was actually surprised she didn't take a lot of damage from that impact.

He randomly looked up and saw why. There was a web of strings that were strewn out, looking like it was the work of Spiderman himself.

'_She lightened her impact by using strings to soften her fall. I have no idea how she did it in time, but she did. She is Wise Girl I guess.' _he picked her up princess style and walked back to where Shirou was and settled her down next to him.

Reaching into his pack, he set out a cube of ambrosia and gently fed it to her, being careful to not make her choke on it.

"Feels like I'm feeding a baby." Percy commented randomly.

"GRRRR!"

Percy whirled around to see a pack of hellhounds growling at him as they stepped closer and closer to him. They must have been attracted to their scent and since he used a powerful domain like Earthshaker they located him easily. That was mostly why he never liked using it. Still, he sighed as he whipped out Riptide, ready to cut them down.

STOMP STOMP STOMP

Loud footsteps could also be heard through the area and the hellhounds quickly scrambled out of the way as the legendary Minotaur appeared, holding his usual Celestial Bronze axe. He also seemed angry if his rapidly expanding pupils was any indication.

Despite that fact, Percy couldn't help but quip. "Hey Mino, how's it hanging? It's been like what, three years since we last fought each other. Good times."

The minotaur's only response was a growl and a huff through its large nose.

Percy sighed. '_This is going to be a pain to deal with.' _

**XxX**

**AN: **So yeah, that's that. Finished this and I have to say that this is my proudest chapter yet. It took me only two days but I still like it for once.

Also, THANKS FOR 1,000 FOLLOWERS! I never would have thought this story would have ever gotten this far and despite all of the hate, love and rough times, we made it boys and I'm proud of that.

Enough of that stuff, a lot happened this chapter with the Angelica vs Heracles fight wrapping up, Shirou and his friends getting in some trouble with some enemies and Zeus getting pissed off at his son's death. (Although he will reform of course.)

Now onto the reviews.

**BlueBlazeBlank- **Don't really know what you mean by Shirou being an ordinary cliche protagonist but thanks for the review, I guess.

**Nightriderprime- **That's pretty much exactly it.

**Frank-K-L- **Thanks.

**rantingbanshee- **Thanks.

**1740- **Who knows.

**FatherKirei- **Thanks and yeah, It's always weird being special when you're not special any other day. I prefer having a small party which was what I got for the most part though I was quite awkward tbh.

**SirKol- **Lugh's pantheon is weaker then Artemis and he can only get so much power. Artemis on the other hand, is a powerful and renowned goddess. Though I can assure you that it won't be easy for either of them. Expect it to be like these fights; nobody is getting out completely unscathed.

**Misaka Phenex- **It would be nice…

**Dimild- **Thank you for your praises.

Lots of reviews, I love it. Thanks to all of you who said happy birthday and yes I did get cake. Red Velvet to be specific. (Where all them red velvet fans at its underrated!)

That's pretty much all I have to say. If you have any questions about something, I'll be more then happy to message you about it or wait until the next chapter. Now if you'll excuse me I have to work on Professor Chiron which I actually skipped in order to write this chapter. You guys will see why when it comes out which should be… this week or next week, depending on how much pain school gives me.

Anyways, I'll see all you lovely ladies and gentlemen later.

~wrath.


	21. Chapter 21 The Minotaur

Percy Jackson as always when it came to quests or things related to tasks was not having a good time. First with trying and failing to drive the car then the car unexpectedly being sabotaged and crashing and finally the battle that left both his girlfriend and his sort-of friend unconscious.

But sadly enough, this was nothing new to him. He'd experienced more dire circumstances and so despite a pack of Hellhounds circling him, he stayed calm and battle ready.

A pack of them lunged at him, easily surpassing a horse's speed and bared their sharp and bloody fangs but they were swiftly cut down with Riptide. More came and more went. It was as simple as that. Any that managed to get past his guard met his iron-body thanks to the curse of River Styx.

Quickly, the numbers went from two dozen to only a handful left. All the while, Percy remained unscathed. They were more hesitant to fight now seeing how easily he dismissed their brethren.

"C'mon come at me you overgrown dogs!"

That seemed to do it as one hellhound in particular a little less bigger than Ms. O'leary was on him faster than he could see, tackling him. It tried to rip his head off and claw him to death but simply didn't have the strength to do so. Percy took advantage of this by grabbing the monster's neck and slamming it into the ground with all his strength, easily cracking its skull.

The next one struck forward at his chest, but he blocked it with his sword and used his free hand to sucker punch it straight in the face. Many others met unfortunate ends like the other ones until there were less than ten left.

Percy made sure to keep an eye on his friends even as he fought and never kept them out of eyeshot for even a second. He then glanced at one of the larger obstacles in his way, the Minotaur who stood motionless and hadn't charged with its fellow monsters and instead chose to observe quietly.

"What's wrong, cow-face, are you getting cold feet? I don't have a red shirt on me right now, but I can totally get one from the gift shop." His insult got no rise out of the monster who stayed lifeless.

After a few more moments, a purple wispy orb appeared from out of the woods and into the Minotaur's body. There was no rejection as the monster's eyes went from crimson to angry pink in a matter of seconds.

"**Ah, it feels good to possess a body after a thousand years! I've never felt such a rush before!"** It spoke.

Percy went from carefree to cautious instantly. Its whole demeanor changed once that orb entered the Minotaur's body. He wasn't even sure if it still was the same brute.

It seemed to notice him now and set its disturbingly deep eyes onto him. Everything else seemed to be drowned out except him. The remaining monsters also stopped their growling's and prowled away in fear.

"**Oops, I almost got distracted in my euphoria, it's just been so long since I could **_**breathe**_** and smell things. I tell you, living in Hades is definitely not in my top ten. Anyhow, I suppose you are my opponent then?" **The ghost(?) asked.

"You don't have to be if you leave me and my friends alone. It's been a rough day for all of us starting with the damn car-crash and ending with both of my teammates exhausted."

"**Hehe, you would like that if I left you, alone wouldn't you?"**

"Definitely."

"**Too bad, I have a mission from the mistress herself and I shall not fail her." **It then swept its golden axe to the side erupting a large windstorm that forced Percy to cover his eyes with his arm. **"Not bad. When I was alive I could do better, but this should be enough to kill one little demigod." **

Now that the hellhounds were gone, Percy could focus all of his battle-instincts on the fight at hand as the only one not injured seriously, thanks to Achilles.

The monster smirked, seeing it's opponent ready. It then charged at him at absurd speeds forcing him to dive to the side just in time to dodge a large axe that implanted itself into the ground creating spiderweb cracks.

He then stood up and started going on the defensive delivering a series of slashes which were all easily blocked and parried by the monster who countered with a backhanded axe slam that met the demigod's ribs and kicked him back forcing him to lose his grip on his weapon.

Percy sprawled on the floor trying to catch his breath after having the wind knocked out of him. '_Crap, Riptide's is far away from me now leaving me with no weapon until it returns back to me. Problem is, I don't have that long!' _

The demigod's panic expression was not lost to the monster. **"What's the matter? Can't fight without your sword? Where I grew up at, weapons were scarce and when we wanted to fight someone, we did it bare-handedly and I suggest you heed that advice too."**

"This coming from the guy who could probably bench-press a gym right now." Percy replied.

"**Bah, try an entire island."**

With that said the Minotaur delivered a forward slash forcing Percy to back up to dodge and just barely dodged the next quick and accurate attack that came faster than the last. The ghost did not let up for a second and barraged the sea god with it's earth-shattering strength.

Percy broke out into a cold sweat as the effort of dodging so fast and on instinct was exhausting his stamina.

'_I need to take another approach to this situation. I won't win at this rate even with Riptide back in my hands. What I need is something to turn the tides. If only Annabeth or Shirou were awake they could have supported me in this, but it doesn't look like they're waking up anytime soon.' _

Percy racked his brain around ideas as he tried his best to avoid the enemy's attacks. But the problem was, his opponent was just so fast.

'_Wait. Fast. That's the key, he's too fast for me to counter too and I can only react so why don't I switch the positions?" _

With that said Percy jumped back as far as he could getting a confused look from the ghost. **"Huh? What are you planning, I can see it in your eyes that you're up to something. But I don't know what." **

"Only thing I'm planning is your death. This entire time you've been falling right into the palm of my hands." Percy stated confidently.

"**Was I? Or are you simply just trying to get me to mess up so you can take advantage of my slip-up? There is nothing here, but grass and trees and I've been watching you carefully and sharply this entire battle. I'll tell you a little secret of mine, my name is Damaris of the wise mind and I am from early ancient Greek history." **

"**I doubt you've heard of me much as I was overshadowed by those bigger then me like Perseus and Theseus and even that stupid fool, Heracles, but I was famous for one thing: having wisdom that reached the realm of the gods! I grew up poor, ate little and was frail but despite that the one thing I had going for me was my excellent insight and character." **

"**Long story short, I made my way from the low-rankings to the top in just short of 20 years, honing my body to its limit when my mother, Athena descended down from Olympus to see me." **

Percy was shocked at that. He wondered what Annabeth would think of her half-brother here who went through a lot.

"**Yes, that's correct, my mother is indeed Athena making that girl over there my half-sister. Judging by the way you look at her you guys are deeply close. That's excellent. Having friends was something I had little of." **

"**Back to my story, Athena descended down from Olympus visiting me one day when I had gone training out in the wilds, judging me worthy to be her son and offering to take me to the camp for demigods, "Camp Half-blood" she said."**

"And I'm guessing you didn't accept because you were find being Oliver Queen and lived out your life in the wilderness." Percy guessed.

His quip got him a little smile from the long dead ghost.

"**Gods no! Of course, I said yes, who wouldn't with those repetitive monsters that attacked me and caused me to get very few hours of sleep. I gratefully accepted and I didn't even care that she abandoned my father." **

"**The problem turned out to be Athena herself. You see, while travelling there she quizzed me telling me she gave it to all her children to see how smart they truly were. The question was: There is a sword and there is a book. Which one would you choose?"**

"Definitely a sword. Stabbing has helped I can safely say."

"**I picked a sword too. She wasn't happy with the answer and immediately gave me a disgusted look and left." **

"That doesn't sound like her." Percy frowned. "So, she never visited you again?"

"**Correct, we never met again, that is in person. However, it seemed she cursed me at some point in time and now at random moments I will become as dumb as that fool Heracles!." **

"**And so, I lived like that for the rest of my life, Dying without a wife or a heir. I wandered around the River Styx for years where I eventually met my mistress and the rest is history." **Damaris finished.

Percy found the story sad. It really disappointed him sometimes how cruel the gods are. First with Luke then the children of minor gods and now him. He was glad they changed.

Riptide had returned to his pocket sometime during his storytelling and he was ready to fight again.

"**Very well, let's see what you're made of Percy Jackson!" **

He huffed through his nose as his right foot dragged against the ground a few times before he charged at him, shaking the ground with each step he took.

"O' lay!" Percy tossed himself to the side at the last-minute avoiding getting crushed but immediately had to bring up Riptide to block a powerful upward slash that left his feet dug into the ground. Sparks were sent between the two blades and it was from there that the battle had truly begun.

Percy jumped up and tried to slash the ghost in the brain only for him to his midair strike. Percy predicted this though and with unparalleled grace, twisted his body so that he was briefly out of the dead-man's vision. He delivered a series of slices across his chest and shoulder but soon had to disengage when the axe sprung up again.

Damaris absently ran his hands through the golden ichor that ran down his chest. "**Very impressive, perhaps I underestimated you after all. But this exchange told me all that I need to know about you." **

"Well there's not a lot to know about me besides I kick monster butt every Wednesday."

"**You're very reliant on your curse. Invincibility always comes at a cost. You should know that by now if you've heard of Achilles' tale." **the ghost in the minotaur's body put his massive finger on his chin in thought. **"I wonder where your spot is at? Is it the feet? No, that's too easy, the heart maybe? No, that's also too obvious. I'm sure you put it somewhere your confident you could guard if need be." **

Cold sweat dripped down the demigod's body at the ghost's dedication. The tides of the fight would instantly turn if he did figure it out. One hit would be all it would take and he would be on the floor like his friends.

"**If I had to guess it would be somewhere on your back. I've been informed of your fatal flaw and I know that it is extreme loyalty to those you trust. So, wouldn't the best place to put it be where you trust your allies not to backstab you at?" **

'_Crap. Why do all of my enemies know how to use my fatal flaw against me?! Maybe I should just tape a sheet of paper saying, "Come get me, I'm right here!" because they seem to figure it out anyways.'_

"**And so, with that knowledge I now know where to strike to be most effective!" **

Their clash began once more, and the first thing Percy noticed was that he was trying to get him to turn his back on him and was willing to do anything necessary to do so. Percy blocked another earth-shattering attack but was unable to defend himself from a strong kick that sent him backwards.

Damaris did not let up though and rushed towards him forcing Percy to brace himself for the slowly but surely powerful attack he was going to deliver. However, unlike what he expected the ghost grinded to a halt suddenly kicking up a large cloud of dust and obscuring Percy's sight. Next thing he knew four blows hit his chest. They didn't break through his body, but he could nevertheless feel them. He tried retaliating but the possessed Minotaur predicted that and grabbed his arm and slammed him on his belly, exposing his back.

All Percy could feel was pain as precise slashes were delivered onto his back getting closer and closer to his Achilles spot. The massive weight of the monster kept him down so that he could not do anything.

"**This is truly the end!" **The ghost gloated, sporting a full-blown smirk. **"I can tell that I'm getting closer to your spot. Just how much longer can you last, Percy Jackson?!" **

Right as he was about to hit his Achilles spot he froze. Not from shock or fear. But from literal _ice_ covering him from toes to his waist.

His eyes widened in shock and disbelief. **"W-What is this? Ice, in the middle of the summer?!" **

Percy regained himself and stood up leveling his face with the ghost. "It seems I was two steps ahead of you. You were so focused on fighting me that you ignored your surroundings and didn't notice the surrounding water focusing and condensing around you until it was too late."

"**Impossible! But when was it raining? I haven't felt a drop!" **Damaris proclaimed.

"That's because you're dead. You couldn't feel it raining and your body didn't recognize the rain as a threat, so it didn't reach your brain about my plan." Percy leveled his sword at the Minotaur's massive neck. "I feel bad for you, I truly do. You didn't deserve the life you lived and if it's of any worth, I'm sorry."

With that said he cleanly separated his head from his body. Killing the body.

Percy dropped to his knees in exhaustion. It was tiring to use his ice powers and took massive amounts of focus that he had little time for.

While the Hero of Olympus was in his thoughts, he didn't notice a wispy blue smoke come out from the Minotaur's ear and into the sky.

'_I may have lost this battle fair and square, but I can still report back to my master and tell her where Percy Jackson's weak point is at. Maybe I should also take the time to focus on those two. The human I heard about can apparently create magical swords and she does want him gone. Wait a second, where is he?!'_ The human had gone missing somewhere down the line.

Out of nowhere, a rain of long bladed swords with a short red hilt came circling down on the ghost, trapping him.

He looked towards the source and saw it to be the very same human he was talking about holding a bow in one hand and the same weapon that was entrapping him in the other.

"Percy, you should really watch your back. He almost possessed Annabeth when you weren't looking." Shirou said with a smile.

"You're awake?!" Percy proclaimed walking up to the magus and giving him a bro hug. "And you're healed?"

"I've been awake for a while, but I have just finished healing Annabeth and I's injuries with one of my Noble Phantasms. You handled him pretty soundly." Shirou said, sounding genuinely impressed.

Percy grinned. "Yeah, it was a pretty close fight. I almost lost if it wasn't for that conveniently timed rain." It took a moment for Shirou to get it before he joined in grinning.

"I see. Well, we should stay in the remains in the cabin for tonight. I believe that he was the last person our enemy had to stop us."

"Yeah, I'm tired too. I want to sleep." Percy yawned.

"You can get your sleep after we deal with _him!_" They both turned around at the same time having a menacing aura around them that made the thousand-year old ghost shiver.

**XxX**

Somewhere in California a battle was being fought. It was evident by the sound of metal meeting stronger metal. Grunts against angry growls.

Clashes of moon silver and crimson red was all that anyone could see. If they could even see anything at this point. The earth beneath them had long since been gone and no life was present in the face of two divine essences clashing. That was simply the power of two powerful beings. A massive cloud of dust had been kicked up from the battle and when it finally cleared two people were seen.

"I'm surprised. For a woman you can hold yourself quite well." Lugh, the god of light and war remarked.

Artemis narrowed her eyes "Are you insinuating that women can't fight?!" One of the easiest ways to piss her off was talking about how she was a female or claiming that women are weak. She believed all women were as strong as any man. Possibly even more so.

Lugh held his hands up in mock surrender "No, no I know how strong women can be, I've trained some pretty badass women myself. The thing that surprised me was how strong you are. See, the Celtic Pantheon is admitally weak compared to the other big groups. I'm the strongest they've got behind Dagda. It's always so hard finding people to fight. When I became a god millennial ago, I was a king but first and foremost a warrior who was born to clash with my opponents. I was undefeated in life and I remain that way now."

Artemis listened to Lugh's words carefully despite not really caring about his backstory. If she probed him long enough, he would eventually spill on his true motives.

"When I eventually died and was reborn as a god, I was ecstatic! Who wouldn't be? I could finally find someone who could actually force me to break past my level and _improve_. It didn't go that way. As a god I was already stronger than the majority of my kin. I went into despair, how could this be, _gods _couldn't push me so who could. Years went by and I receive information on a little human claiming my son's weapon, the Gae Bolg."

"Human?" Artemis repeated, confused.

"Yes, that was my reaction to hearing the news. I dismissed it at first. I know exactly where it's located and it's impossible to reach by normal human hands. That's when I became interested and asked for the name. Sherou Emiya it was."

Realization dawned on Artemis. The story sounded very similar and now she knew why. His cloning ability as she called it, allowed him to duplicate weapons, making them look almost identical. It must have seen out a reaction to its original which alerted the gods. If that truly was the case, she would have to discuss this with the other gods. What if his power alerted someone powerful like the Hindu's? Would they come after them?

She didn't know. Not knowing something as a god was rare but this was one special case.

A chuckle broke the goddess out of her thoughts. "So, you _do _know him. Has the goddess of Maidenhood finally settled down with a human" he teased. "I had a hunch you knew him. My suspicions are now confirmed! I'll make you an offer you simply can't refuse! Bring him to me safe and sound and I won't harm you or your hunters."

This time Artemis couldn't help but scoff. "You're in no position to be making demands." He was being an arrogant little fool demanding _her _the goddess of the moon to do something for him. Even if she did agree, none of the gods would be happy about their "experiment" as they call him go.

Lugh let out a sigh of relief. "Whew, I'm glad you said no. Else we would have had to stop fighting." He then pointed his divine spear at her face. "Now, where were we?"

"**LUGH!" **A loud voice rumbled. The very tone and pitch of it shook the forest and even startled her.

Looking towards the sound she saw a mountain. No that wasn't a mountain it was a man. A massive_ man _stood behind her, easily as tall as a four-story house and holding a wooden club as tall as he was. He had a shaggy beard and looked more akin to a caveman with how hairy and primitive his clothes were which was a simple green tunic and baggy pants. The most striking thing about his appearance besides his stature was the cauldron strapped to his back that he carried with one arm. It appeared to be full of some sort of clear liquid that _definitely _was not water.

Lugh's eyes widened and he seemed to show cowardness in the face of the giant. His mood did a full one-eighty from strong and confident to a child. "D-Dadga, w-what brings you here…?"

'_That's the Dagda?!' _Questioned Artemis. She'd heard of him before and how he was known for being massive, but she never expected him to be this big. He was close to the height of Typhon.

"**I should be asking you that question Lugh." **Dadga replied. His face looked between a mixture of annoyed and exasperated. **"I take my wisdom eye off you for two seconds, TWO SECONDS, and you're off provoking a little girl. I'm sure you know the rules." **

Artemis resisted the urge to fire a thousand arrows at his eye and instead watched the exchange. They both seemed to ignore her and only focused on each other.

Lugh awkwardly scratched the back of his head and suddenly found the charred earth more entertaining. "I… just wanted to confirm a suspicion is all."

Dagda did not look convinced and crossed his arms. **"I'm sure… either way you better get back to Ireland and so help me if I see you come back all the way to America…" **It was a clear threat like a mother threatening to punish their child should they behave improperly.

Once Lugh had vanished, Artemis exited her divine form and was back in her thirteen-year old form. She felt the eyes of the giant focus on her now that the god was gone.

"**Oh! You must be Artemis, very nice to meet you!" **Dagda said, extending his hand out to her. Artemis too confused at his sudden change of mood shook it or more like shook his finger. **"Sorry about my adopted son, Lugh there, he can get a bit rowdy sometimes. I swear these kids go wherever they feel like these days!" **

Dagda then cleaned his throat realizing he had gotten off track. **"Anyways, I'll be going, I've got to have a meeting with my son about how to approach situations. I promise you that you won't be getting any more trouble from him or anyone else in my group anymore." **

Despite the god's reassurance Artemis didn't feel it was over. Lugh didn't seem like the type to back down like that and he wasn't even the mastermind behind sending Balor to her and Shirou.

Still as a dignified goddess she responded respectfully. "I see. See to it that he stays away from our territory. If my father caught him the situation could have been a lot worse." She wasn't lying either. Zeus would have been in a full-blown panic sending out lightning bolts all the way to Ireland sparking a war. He still didn't have enough evidence that the Celtics were behind it and Balor was in a coma, locked up in a magical jail made by Hecate.

"**You're damn right about that! Me and Zeus were old pals' way back in the day. Whenever someone wronged him even the slightest, he would have a major temper tantrum." **Lightning from far away lit up yet Dagda didn't seem fazed and continued. **"Is he still out there sleeping with every pretty face?" **

"He…" She didn't know if she should reveal that, but she knew the answer.

And so, did he as he grinned. **"Thought so. Wonder when that woman's gonna break that long knot she has with him. But I'll be seein- Wait a second, did Lugh leave Faillinis here?!" **

Artemis's eyes widened as she remembered about the wolf who was currently battling her hunters somewhere. "Yes, I do believe the bastard left him here!" she growled. Of course, he would try and get any type of payback that he could.

She shifted into a raven and took off. Hopefully all of her hunters were alive and safe.

**AN: So… I'm late. I know. It's been like what, 3 months since I updated or something? Sorry about that I've just been so busy with school and all that and I got lost in the track of time. But I'm back! I'll try and get back to my normal schedule with Distorted and Professor Chiron. No promises but I'll try. **

**Does anyone else feel like from August to September went by in a flash? Like seriously, one second I'm starting school and now we've got only 6 weeks left. Crazy right? **

**Also kind of a random question but is anyone going to the actual movie theaters to see Heaven's Feel 3? I'm going to try to and it's featured near me on November the 18th so I'm excited about that. I don't want to bring anyone though cuz I feel like I'm going to cry and not for Sakura. **

**Artoria is best waifu. **

JeBest4781: Thanks man, Appreciate it.

Ranting Banshee: Thanks, man.

Frank-K-L: Also thanks for wishing me happy birthday!

Nightriderprime: wow, you hit the nail right in the wood!

BlueBlazeBlank: Uhh, I don't really agree with you mate. I don't believe I've turned him into a typical shounen protagonist but i appreciate your reviews anyways.

rwbybomb21:Yeah, I can kinda understand your long rant. I was pretty sloppy with the first few chapters and it kinda shows. I believe I've gotten better and actively try to improve myself as time goes on

Grim24: Think I've addressed this before but I'll do it again before people comment. Yeah, I kinda make characters stronger than they actually are but I believe that adds to the story. The type of fics I can't stand are fics where the main character speed runs through a story pretty much with little injuries and you know gets the girl easily yada yada. I want to make this one a bit different. I've recently caught up with JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and I love the way fights turn out where it's a battle of resolve instead of who has the stronger stand or in this case, ability. I also really admire how Araki adds scientific elements into his story like Vectors, calculating the distance something reaches and more. Of course, I can't do all that but I try my best to make fights as interesting and as depthful as I possibly can.

Abdur Ruf Aymaan: Appreciate it.

Guest: ? Anubis god from Egyptian Mythology? I might do that when I actually read Kane Chronicles. But I feel like I'll mess something up.

Fang the Fabulous: Well, yeah, but I like my headcanon that Shirou secretly loves Kanshou and Bakuya because I do! And yeah I've already addressed the inconsistencies above. Thanks for the review though.

Bonkxd: Well I guess I'll explain it to you here then. Shirou didn't accept because he knew that he would be playing right into the gods palm. Sure he would get a domain or whatever, but then what? He would be forced right under Olympus's thumb like a student owing student debt to a school but can't pay it off so he gradually pays it off only to waste his entire life doing it.

Cobalt Conrad: I did…? Sometimes at least xD. Though I might have missed some to be fair.

**And that's all of them Yare Yare Daze. Hope you guys enjoy this chapter and once again sorry for it being late. Wish I had a beta reader who could spam me and force me to make a chapter xD. But seriously what really inspired me to finish this bad boy off was seeing the outrageous amount of support I got even while not updating. See, I have my email on so I can see everyone who has favorites, comments and all that jazz and throughout every day I saw at least one person favorite or follow my story or just me personally which is insane. You really do love to see it. **

**Anyways, until next time, wrath.**


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